


The Engineer's Guide to Dating the Avatar

by wegglebots



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Canon Relationships, F/F, Post-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-26
Updated: 2015-03-16
Packaged: 2018-03-03 15:41:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 17,989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2856221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wegglebots/pseuds/wegglebots
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes, Asami would worry that she had somehow “broken” Korra.</p><p>After all, Korra fumbling with her words and getting very flustered was very unexpected. But being the engineer that she is, she takes notes on just how to “handle” the avatar the way that only she can. It's a labor of love, really.</p><p>(One shots revolving Asami and Korra and their inevitable romance post book 4. Will get updated as I can be assed to write. May include mature content in the future. Also posted in tumblr by user acetheninja01. That is me. Do not be alarmed.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 1

**Author's Note:**

> Full Summary:
> 
> Sometimes, Asami would worry that she had somehow “broken” Korra.
> 
> Asami was under the impression that Korra was a confident, brave woman who went and got what she wanted whenever she wanted it. Korra fumbling with her words and getting very flustered was very unexpected. 
> 
> Of course, the “not-very-Korra” behavior very much exists within the realm of “natural Korra behavior” and Asami is simply the only one to experience it thus far.
> 
> But being the engineer that she is, she takes notes on just how to “handle” the avatar the way that only she can. It's a labor of love, really.  
> ___________  
> (This is for my girlfriend, who inspired this whole thing to begin with)

**1\. Tell the avatar that you’re more than willing to be her girlfriend before the she passes out from the apparent stress of even asking.**

 

In all honesty, Asami Sato thought that she and Korra would walk into the spirit portal as two people very romantically interested in each other, and come out of it as a brand new couple. As such, Asami packed accordingly, even going so far as wearing some racy underwear despite how uncomfortable it was to trek all day wearing them. 

Alas, it appeared that Korra never quite mustered enough courage to confess. Don’t be mistaken though, Asami had the time of her life. It was during this time that she knew for sure that Korra felt the same. For Asami, it was only a matter of waiting for Korra to ask the “magic question”. 

By “magic question”, Asami meant Korra’s confession of undying love, Asami’s declaration of how much she reciprocates said undying love, and then Korra asking Asami if they could be in a relationship, to which Asami had already rehearsed at least 15 different ways to accept. One of which involved a small dance number. Asami may or may not have been a little too giddy when she came up with that one. 

However, Asami begins to question the feasibility of this “magic question” scenario as she watches Korra stutter and wave her arms about at Asami’s doorstep, trying in vain to ask Asami out for another date. 

"So, you see, Asami… Uh… Noodles… Um… Yeah… South pole… Korra…. Going to— I mean, me, I am Korra… and uh… You, Asami…."

Asami had been waiting patiently for Korra to find the phrase “please have dinner with me tonight” for around ten minutes. Asami doesn’t mind though; she finds the scene irresistibly adorable. But if Korra’s very very flushed, sweaty face was of any indication, it’s that Korra can’t keep this up for much longer. So the engineer steps up to the plate only the way that she can. 

"Alright Korra", she starts, giggling in that way that puts butterflies in Korra’s stomach, "how about this, come pick me up at seven, and we’ll have dinner at that new south pole-style noodle place down the block. It’s a date". 

Korra beams and nods enthusiastically, turning around to fist pump and whisper “yesssssssss”. 

___________________

Korra arrives on time, holding a bouquet of roses, and sheepishly holds it out for Asami when she opens the door, wordlessly grinning the whole time. 

"Aww, how sweet", Asami says, taking the roses in her arms, smiling at Korra in the way that makes her heart pound so hard she can feel it in her toes. 

Korra gulps and straightens up. This is it, Korra thinks to herself, this is the moment to ask. She stares at Asami, now determined to make Asami her “forever girl”, as Katara once put it. 

Now that Korra’s really taken a moment to look, she realizes just how stunning Asami looks in her dress tonight, and how stunning she looks all the time really. But Korra reprimands herself, telling herself to focus and get the words out the way she rehearsed with Naga earlier. 

"A-A-Asami… Uh… Before we head out… I uh- We… I…"

Korra feels the wild heat rush to her face. She feels a bit lightheaded. She never quite recovered from her little show where she “asked Asami Sato out”. 

Asami smiles at her, blushing. This makes Korra’s heart pound even faster. This isn’t at all going the way Korra wanted. She was supposed to tell her how much Asami means to her, then ask her to be her “forever girl”, hoping that the gravity of referring to her past-life’s marriage wouldn’t be lost. But now Korra was floundering about with her arms again, like her weird gestures would somehow make the words come out easier as if she were a wordbender. 

"A-Asami… When… We went to the spirit ki— I mean world, spirit world… We… Uh… hands… held… and… I uhhh…"

Korra is sweating now. A cold, nervous sweat. Her heart is pounding so hard she can hardly hear anything else. She is getting very, very lightheaded. 

"What I want to say… is… I…."

"KORRA!"

And all Korra, the powerful avatar, sees last before blacking out, is Asami Sato, the love of her life, rushing forward to catch her. 

___________

Korra wakes up, hours later, her head resting on Asami’s lap. Before Korra could jolt up or say anything, Asami puts a hand on her shoulder and a finger on her lips, silencing the startled avatar. 

"I’ve ordered take-out and it should get here any moment. Don’t worry, you’ve only been out for about twenty minutes", Asami says, smiling to reassure Korra. 

Korra visibly calms down, and Asami decides to finish the conversation they had before the avatar, who had previously saved the world 4 times, passed out before she could ask Asami the “magic question”. She steels herself, blushing. She’ll be damned if she doesn’t manage to make the avatar her girlfriend before the night ends. Korra’s eyes widen in surprise, as if aware of what’s taking place.

"Korra, I love you. I love everything about you. And yes, I’ll be your girlfriend. Nothing could make me happier right now."

And Korra bolts up and embraces Asami, conveying all the love she could in that one hug. They spend a moment in that blissful, tender silence before Korra speaks up, her voice muffled as her face is buried in Asami’s long black hair. 

"I love you too. I really.. Really do. And.. Uhh… It’s forever girl…"

The gears in Asami’s head click and she reciprocates Korra’s tight embrace. Maybe not the “magic question” scenario she wanted, but forever girl it is, then. 

 

__________


	2. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 2\. The avatar will be surprisingly shy and ask for permission to do anything even remotely romantic. It will be adorable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Full Summary:
> 
> Sometimes, Asami would worry that she had somehow “broken” Korra.
> 
> Asami was under the impression that Korra was a confident, brave woman who went and got what she wanted whenever she wanted it. Korra fumbling with her words and getting very flustered was very unexpected.
> 
> Of course, the “not-very-Korra” behavior very much exists within the realm of “natural Korra behavior” and Asami is simply the only one to experience it thus far.
> 
> But being the engineer that she is, she takes notes on just how to “handle” the avatar the way that only she can. It's a labor of love, really.  
> ___________  
> (This is for my girlfriend, who inspired this whole thing to begin with)

**2\. The avatar will be surprisingly shy and ask for permission to do anything even remotely romantic. It will be adorable.**

Asami wonders if she’s flirting  _too hard_  with the avatar. 

Is that what causes the shyness and the stuttering and all the wordbending? At three months into their relationship, there are still things that Korra struggles to say. Take, for example, their trip to the mover-house last night.

It was the premier of Varrick and Zhu Li’s new mover, about Nuk Tuk somehow transforming into a giant spirit being that saves the world. While happy for Bolin and his success as a mover star, Asami was irritated by the whole affair. Varrick was stealing Korra’s thunder. And no one steals Korra’s thunder. (Except maybe Asami herself. She is, after all, the avatar’s girlfriend.)

The scene was a romantic one, where Nuk Tuk’s love interest (whose name somehow escapes Asami) reaches out to him, conveying so much love that somehow saves Nuk Tuk from the jaws of death. Literally. There was a machine that was about to eat him that got somehow disabled by the love interest’s cries of love. Goddamn Varrick, Asami thinks to herself, criticizing how dumb it seems to her. 

Either way, the scene seems to have affected Korra, who was fidgeting with her hands and stealing glances at Asami. Of course, Asami is confused. So she tries to coax Korra by looking at her, with half lidded eyes as she bites her lower lip. 

Korra blushes a deep scarlet and affixes her gaze to the toes of her boots.

 _Whoops, too strong_ , Asami thinks, reprimanding herself for going a little all out. So she leans over to Korra and asks what it is, trying to dial it down a bit. Korra, however, is extremely attracted to Asami no matter how much she “dials it down”, so she communicates in broken stutters and blushes. 

"I— Just… wanted… to… You know, uh—"

"Yes?"

"Ijustwantedtoholdyourhand."

"What?"

"…Ijustwantedtoholdyourhand…"

"….What??"

"IJustWantedToHoldYourHand."

That last time came out a bit louder than expected, and they both get “shush-ed” by Bolin, who was clearly enraptured by his own mover. 

Asami managed to hear it though, so she smiles at Korra, lovingly, and while Korra continues to fidget in her embarrassed silence, Asami simply takes her hand and holds it for the rest of the mover.

___________

Now Asami, being Asami, decided to take notes. She is, after all, a very smart girl and a talented engineer. If she couldn’t quite understand what’s causing Korra’s odd behavior, then she could at least document it. 

She started with Korra’s complete inability to ask her out months ago, finishing her notes with how she managed to solve the problem. She then moves on to document Korra’s incident at the movers, continuing with evidence suggesting that Korra seems to want to ask permission to do anything even remotely romantic. (Like sit close to her on the couch. But that’s a separate and equally odd story to tell for another day.) 

Of course, Asami being Asami, knows exactly what to do, and feels nothing but immense endearment for her girlfriend. 

___________

 Asami finds Korra playing with Naga at air temple island. 

"Korra!", Asami shouts, catching the avatar’s attention, who waves back beaming. 

"Asami! Hey! What are you do-"

And Korra never gets to finish her sentence because Asami quickly closes the distance between them, pulling Korra in for a kiss. And Asami kisses her,  _hard._

When they pull apart, still holding onto one another, Korra is understandably speechless. Asami, however, is pleased with herself. Blushing, but pleased. 

"Korra?"

"Yeah?"

"You know I love you, right? You know I love you more than anything?"

"…Yeah. And I love you too. More than anything."

"Good", she says, tilting up the avatar’s chin so she could look deep into those blue eyes she loves so much, "because you really got me good, you know."

And the gears in Korra’s head finally click and she smiles at Asami in that way that makes her want to melt, and it’s Korra this time that initiates the kiss.

______

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [A/N] Regrettably, this (and by this I mean the mover-house part) is, in fact, inspired by real life. I didn’t want to try to hold her hand and then find out that I had crossed some unspoken no-no zone, okay!? (aren't I one big hot mess?)


	3. 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 3\. Upon realizing that she’s “got you good”, her flirting evolves into something oddly familiar yet silly all the same.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Full Summary:
> 
> Sometimes, Asami would worry that she had somehow “broken” Korra.
> 
> Asami was under the impression that Korra was a confident, brave woman who went and got what she wanted whenever she wanted it. Korra fumbling with her words and getting very flustered was very unexpected.
> 
> Of course, the “not-very-Korra” behavior very much exists within the realm of “natural Korra behavior” and Asami is simply the only one to experience it thus far.
> 
> But being the engineer that she is, she takes notes on just how to “handle” the avatar the way that only she can. It's a labor of love, really.  
> ___________  
> (This is for my girlfriend, who inspired this whole thing to begin with)

**3\. Upon realizing that she’s “got you good”, her flirting evolves into something oddly familiar yet silly all the same.**

_Sleeves,_ Asami Sato wonders one fine Friday afternoon,  _what does Korra have against sleeves?_

The engineer ponders this as she takes her afternoon break in New Avatar Korra Park, on a bench nearest the shiny Korra statue, her new favorite spot. Now, there are certainly more pressing matters for Asami to consider, say, the reconstruction of Republic City. But Asami is lost in this train of thought, struggling in vain to remember times that Korra would willingly wear anything with sleeves on them and  _not_  flex her biceps so hard they tear, just to impress her girlfriend.

Now, at this point they have been in a relationship for half a year. And within that half year, Korra has shown Asami the “yo babe how do you like these guns” routine at least 11 and a half times. The half was for when Korra came back from an especially tiring trip, and wanting to express how much she missed Asami in the way that only the avatar could, attempted the routine, only to fall asleep midway. 

Asami has taken note of each iteration of these “routines”. The “routine” always starts with some premise, say the aforementioned “yo babe how do you like these guns”, followed by Korra flexing and grunting until her sleeves tear with crisp  _rrrrip._ "Yesss, dear", Asami would then say, smiling, and Korra would pull her in for a nice sweet kiss. 

Iterations of the “routine” range from “is it me or is it hot in here” to “ _I JUST LOVE YOU SO MUCH RIGHT NOW I FEEL THAT THIS IS AN APPROPRIATE THING TO DO_ ”. And of course Asami would never admit it, but it’s something she really enjoys. After all, it’s impressive. And sexy. Asami could not deny the appeal it has to her. 

Due to the transition from “shy wordbending” to “dorkilicious hot mess”, Korra’s flirting now includes things such as “wiggly  _hey babe_  eyebrows”, “random (clumsily folded) origami flowers everywhere”, “random real flowers everywhere”, and Asami’s favorite, “random little notes with loving messages written in them”. 

Of course, Asami knows that Korra acts this way because she is finally aware that she “got Asami good”. So the engineer dutifully takes note of it, and heads back to work, eagerly awaiting Korra’s return from her avatar business trip. 

(She’s also hoping that maybe Korra would do the “routine” again, but she’d never say that out loud.)

____________

 _Parks_ , Avatar Korra wonders one fine Friday afternoon,  _what is it with Asami and parks?_

The avatar ponders this as she reads the newspaper in an airship bound for home. The headlines inform her of a  _New_ Avatar Korra Park, built in her honor as thanks for saving Republic City  _again_.  _  
_

Korra knows that this is her girlfriend’s doing, as President Raiko would sooner kiss Varrick’s calloused feet before he builds her a park. Seriously, it’s like the guy would instantly forget everything Korra has done, and revert to wanting to kick the avatar out of the city the second after he thanks her for saving said city.

Building New Avatar Korra Park was literally the first thing Future Industries started on as a contribution to the Republic City restoration project. In a press conference, Asami claimed that it was an offering of thanks from the city to the avatar that saved them, but Korra knows it’s a weird elaborate gift from Asami in an expression of “ _I’M JUST SO PROUD OF YOU THIS FEELS LIKE AN APPROPRIATE THING TO DO”_.

Korra laughs to herself, deciding that she should maybe avoid saving Republic City from now on, lest they swarm with Avatar Korra Parks. 

 _Spirits,_ she thinks,  _Asami’s flirting sure is getting silly._

________

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [A/N] I had a lot of fun writing this one. I think at this point of their relationship they’re just constantly gushing at each other in any way they can, really. 
> 
> As an additional bit of trivia, in the Philippines there is a word to express the feeling of “RRRGHHHH I LOVE YOU SO MUCH THAT THIS ACTION IS APPROPRIATE RGGGGHHHHH”. 
> 
> It’s gigil.


	4. 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 4\. The avatar is free-spirited and difficult to contain, but you are Asami Sato, avatar tamer. You know how to make her squirm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Full Summary:
> 
> Sometimes, Asami would worry that she had somehow “broken” Korra.
> 
> Asami was under the impression that Korra was a confident, brave woman who went and got what she wanted whenever she wanted it. Korra fumbling with her words and getting very flustered was very unexpected.
> 
> Of course, the “not-very-Korra” behavior very much exists within the realm of “natural Korra behavior” and Asami is simply the only one to experience it thus far.
> 
> But being the engineer that she is, she takes notes on just how to “handle” the avatar the way that only she can. It's a labor of love, really.  
> ___________  
> (This is for my girlfriend, who inspired this whole thing to begin with)

**4\. The avatar is free-spirited and difficult to contain, but you are Asami Sato, avatar tamer. You know how to make her squirm.**

It’s just after lunch, and Asami and Korra are out picking dresses for the unending roll of galas that the CEO of Future Industries has to attend. 

"So, how does this dress look?", Asami says, stepping out of the dressing room in a red silk gown that hugs the engineer’s curves, flipping her hair and giving Korra a full dose of that "smolder gaze".

Korra blushes, speechless, thinking about how good it looks and maybe some inappropriate thoughts (involving the same dress except it’s not on Asami but on the bedroom floor) that she most definitely shouldn’t be having.

"G-Great…"

"…."

"…."

"Oh. OH. OHHHHH", Asami lets out, picking up on the avatar’s obvious trail of thought. 

Seeing an opportunity to get back at Korra for her little prank earlier that day (which involved a nice, warm shower and some really  _really_  cold water bent into it) Asami’s expression changes. She smirks in that way that Korra fears, knowing exactly what she’s going to say next.

"Oh no", Korra fumbles, terrified.

"Does this mean…"

"Asami no."

"That you think…."

"Stop."

"That I look…"

"Asami, please."

And Asami gets down on one knee, and with the same mocking smirk spreads out her arms, complete with jazz hands, finishing with a dramatic exclamation of,

“ _SNAZZY???_ ”

"Ughhh Asami whyyy", Korra grumbles into her hands, reduced to an embarrassed mess, while other customers in the store point and whisper about Republic City’s "finest power couple" acting like idiots in a dress shop. 

___________

The next day, the avatar stumbles out of bed and carefully steps over clothes that did end up on the bedroom floor, aching for an energizing shower. Korra has a lot of “avatar duties” lined up for her that day, while Asami gets to peacefully sleep in, all cuddled up and naked under the bed sheets.

During the shower, Korra ponders what she has come to call the “Asami act”. The “Asami act” refers to when Asami would act out dramatically to make Korra flustered. “Does this mean that you think that I look  _Snazzy_ " happens to be Asami’s favorite "Asami act" to pull off, especially in public.

Korra is always reduced to a floundering mess every time her girlfriend pulls another “act”. 

Stepping out of the shower, Korra decides to try out the “act” herself. In the absolute silence of the bathroom, she gets down on one knee, spreads out her arms complete with jazz hands, and finishes with a dramatic exclamation of,

“ _SNAZZY_ ”

***pffft***

Korra’s face snaps to the doorway,  _and freezes._

There Asami Sato stands, hand covering her mouth to keep the gales of laughter from pouring out. Korra remains frozen in her majestic pose, completely and utterly embarrassed beyond belief. And with that Asami laughs and laughs and laughs, all the while Korra protests with a weak  _"Asamiiiiiiii"_.

Eventually Asami calms down and pulls Korra in for an embrace, the kind that makes the avatar kind of want to melt in her girlfriend’s arms and they kiss in between little giggles.

Needless to say the avatar was absent from her “avatar duties” that day.

___________

Asami knows she has a tendency to go overboard. But she feels that it isn’t her fault. After all, the whole “restraint and discipline” thing was part of Korra’s personal growth journey, and Asami’s was all about “faith and perseverance”. 

 _Cut me some slack_ , Asami would often think, as she did, after all, have nothing but her love to keep her warm during the three years of the avatar’s absence. So of course Asami goes overboard. She’s stockpiled so much love that sometimes she feels like her heart just can’t contain it anymore. Korra knows this, and Korra loves this about Asami, much like how she loves  _everything_ about Asami.

Their first anniversary finally passes, and to celebrate, they decide to move in together. After all, Korra’s lodging in Air Temple Island was supposed to be temporary to begin with, and the couple certainly would enjoy more time spent together. 

This truly makes Asami happy, as to her, it is like her being given another family. So she quickly plans to surprise Korra with a bit of renovation, completely changing the layout of the Sato mansion’s backyard. 

When it’s finally complete, Asami wastes no time in bringing a blindfolded Korra to behold her gift from her cherished girlfriend. And with a dramatic sweep of the arm with a matching “ta-da”, Asami takes off Korra’s blindfold.

Before Korra is a beautiful landscape of lush green grass and some flower bushes thrown in here and there. In the middle is a statue of the avatar herself, posing triumphantly in polished bronze. The statue itself stands on a magnificent marble fountain, with paths leading to it and benches placed strategically around it for maximum viewing pleasure.

Korra surveys the area in complete disbelief. Korra is happy, and would be happy even if Asami’s surprise turned out to be a plate of burnt eggs (Asami could never really grasp “cooking”), but Raava save her, it’s as if Asami slapped  _another park_  right into her own backyard.

"Asami, a park?  _Again? REALLY?_ _”_

"………. Soo……. Too much?"

“ _TOO MUCH.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [A/N] I’d like someone to draw that first scene please. It’ll be the best. I just know it.


	5. 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 5\. As chief avatar tamer (a position you’re very proud of), you must remind her that you are the winner. In everything. All the time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Full Summary:
> 
> Sometimes, Asami would worry that she had somehow “broken” Korra.
> 
> Asami was under the impression that Korra was a confident, brave woman who went and got what she wanted whenever she wanted it. Korra fumbling with her words and getting very flustered was very unexpected.
> 
> Of course, the “not-very-Korra” behavior very much exists within the realm of “natural Korra behavior” and Asami is simply the only one to experience it thus far.
> 
> But being the engineer that she is, she takes notes on just how to “handle” the avatar the way that only she can. It's a labor of love, really.  
> ___________  
> (This is for my girlfriend, who inspired this whole thing to begin with)

**5\. As chief avatar tamer (a position you’re very proud of), you must remind her that you are the winner. In everything. All the time.**

_____________

Asami Sato was raised like a princess. 

And like a princess, she grew up with the notion that she must always be a notch above the rest. After all, she has responsibilities. She must excel.

Therefore she gives every endeavor she undertakes her absolute best effort. Be it academics, athletics, or even grace and beauty, she must reign supreme. Sure, she grew up a bit spoiled and never wanted for anything, but it didn’t come without a price.

Asami is competitive. Incredibly so. And it’s this competitive streak that prevented her from building any lasting friendships as she was growing up. Devoting all her time into being the best in every field didn’t help much either.  

And while she tries her absolute hardest to hide this at all costs (she doesn’t want to lose any more friends, after all), she feels that she could be her absolute self with Korra.

Avatar Korra was raised like a savior.

And like a savior, she grew up with the notion that she must always be a notch above the rest. After all, she has responsibilities. She must excel. 

Of course this makes Korra equally, if not more, competitive than Asami. And while she wants to win at everything (she is the master of all four elements, after all), she feels that she could be her absolute self with Asami. 

And that very sense of comfort includes Korra losing at her girlfriend’s little made up games. 

_____________

It’s rarely ever cold enough in Republic City to make even Korra wear a coat. And when it is that cold, it snows. 

Korra and Asami have just returned home after a night hitting the town. Tired and sleepy, Korra takes off her coat and throws it on their living room couch. Asami, who was previously in the process of hanging her coat in the closet, forgoes this and instead makes a point of tossing her coat right on top of Korra’s. This does not go unnoticed. 

 _Huh_ , Korra thinks to herself, and decides to try out a theory. Curious, she pulls out her coat from under Asami’s and plops it right on top. She then observes Asami, who was carefully watching.

Asami then walks over, dead serious, and pulls out  _her_  coat from under Korra’s and plops it right back on top. She does not break eye contact. She looks at Korra with an intensity that actually intimidates the avatar a little.

“ _I win_ ”, Asami finally declares, maybe a little tipsier than usual, before smirking and flipping her hair. 

Korra is understandably confused.  

____________

It’s Mako’s birthday, and to celebrate, he invites his closest friends and family to his recently acquired apartment. His apartment is spacious, but sparsely decorated. Bolin has offered (many, many times) to decorate said apartment, but Mako seems to enjoy it being as bland as it is. With the two brothers both busy with their own separate careers, they don’t spend as much time together as they used to.

Mako serves his guests varied servings of take-out food, as well as food that his guests themselves brought. Pema’s vegetable stew is a party hit, and grandma’s steamed fish is a close second. Overall, the party mood is good, with guests breaking off into smaller groups and holding conversations among themselves. 

"C’mon, Bro! We could go sofa shopping together!", Bolin says, swinging an arm around his brother’s shoulder.

"I dunno man, I kinda like the place as it is. Besides, I don’t exactly have the time to waste looking for sofas."

"Are you sure? Even for those reeeaaaalllyyy comfy recliner chairs that we always wanted?"

"No, Bolin. No sofas", Mako finally says, shrugging out of Bolin’s brotherly embrace.

"Well maybe you could use a bit of renovation to make the space more useful to you instead? Like a home gym or something?", Opal suddenly interjects, in an attempt to net her pouting boyfriend a shopping trip with his brother.

Mako entertains the thought for a while. Opal shoots him a look that says _don’t hurt my baby’s feelings and go with it,_ and Mako looks at Bolin to see that he is, in fact, disappointed.

"Renovation, huh? You know, that actually seems like a good idea", Mako finally allows, much to Bolin and Opal’s pleasure.

"Renovation? I could help with that", Asami says, her and Korra joining the conversation.

"Careful Mako, Asami might suddenly build you your own  _A_ _vatar Korra Park_.”, Korra adds with a laugh.

"Ohhh yeah Mako, I’ll make you a real  _SNAZZY_ one”, Asami quickly quips back before anyone could react.

Korra hits Asami playfully on the shoulder, with a grumbled “ _Asamiiii_ ”. This appears to have caught Asami off-guard, as she instinctively hits back. Before the couple knows it, they’re hitting each other playfully in an attempt to “have the last say”, even though they aren’t using any words. 

Everyone watches on in strained, awkward silence. When the couple first came out, everyone was overjoyed at the aspect of them having found love and compatibility despite the chaos of their lives. This weird show they’re putting up (they’re now essentially play wrestling), is definitely something they didn’t expect.

It takes the pair a while to remember that they’re at a party and they quickly regain their composure, clearing their throats and blushing. They do, however, whisper an agreement to continue the “game” when they get home.

____________

When Korra and Asami walk together, anywhere at all really, Asami always walks that little bit faster. 

The couple is walking to the nearby shopping district, where they planned to meet up with the rest of team Avatar for Bolin’s highly anticipated shopping trip with the reluctant Mako. As per usual, Asami is ever so slightly in the lead.

At first, Korra attributed this to their obvious height difference (which Korra absolutely  _loathes_  but Asami  _loves_ ). Given the recent string of events, however, Korra began to re-evaluate that stance. 

Curious, Korra catches up to Asami.

Inexplicably, Asami walks faster.

Bewildered, Korra tries to catch up again.

Determined, Asami increases her pace once more.

The couple is now practically jogging, and as usual, catching the attention of other pedestrians. 

"Uhhh, babe?", Korra squeaks, wondering why on earth they’re jogging right now.

Asami shoots back a fierce glare, the type she gives to enemies on a battlefield. Surprised, Korra stops dead in her tracks, genuinely intimidated by her girlfriend’s sudden display of ferocity. Korra briefly contemplates her life and wonders if she had done anything to merit Asami’s rage. She watches as her girlfriend jogs a good 10 meters away before noticing that she had already left her “competition” in the dust. 

Realizing what had just transpired, Asami runs back, very guilty and very sorry, embracing her girlfriend and promising to make it up to her and ease up on the engineer’s competitive streak.

Korra is very very confused. Very understandably so.

_________

It is the next morning, and the couple is eating pancakes that Asami cooked herself. Korra is pleasantly surprised by this, as she knows that the engineer literally  _studied_ the “art of pancake making” just so that they could eat breakfast together like this. Korra showers her giggling girlfriend in kisses and they have breakfast in content silence.

As usual, Korra eats at least a plate more than Asami. Asami, however, seems content with just sipping her coffee and reading the morning paper. Korra raises an eyebrow. 

 _No game here, huh_ , Korra thinks to herself, wondering if Asami’s strange competitive streak was just a phase.

"Aren’t you gonna try to eat more pancakes?", Korra finally asks, curious.

"Why would I do that babe?", Asami answers, keeping her eyes glued on the paper.

"So that you win? You know, like you always do? That weird thing where you have to "win" at everything."

Asami looks at Korra, eyebrow raised. This prompts to Korra gather her thoughts and continue.

"I mean, just the other day when we were in the shower together, you kept the damn soap from me until you were almost finished. Just so you could finish first. And "win"."

Asami lets that thought sink in for a moment. She then smiles, a smile that tells Korra that she has this one in the hole. She picks up her coffee mug (which says “I’m the avatar’s girlfriend”), and takes a sip before speaking.

"No, I ate less and thus maintained a daintier image. Therefore I win."

"…"

"…"

"Even if you ate more you’d still win but for some other ridiculous reason instead, huh?"

"Yyyyyup."

Asami sips her coffee, and Korra laughs. Damn her girlfriend is cute.

__________________

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [A/N] Man this one was a doozy to write. Not quite sure if I’m happy with the way it turned out or not. Ugh, words, they escape me. Which is strange, considering how this is something with the most personal relevance. (The shower thing Korra mentioned was based on something that truly, really, I-shit-you-not, happened to me)
> 
> Either way, it turned out completely different from how I initially drafted the idea.
> 
> It’s been long in the “idea pipe” but I think the next one will be a meet-the-parents type of thing.
> 
> Hope you all like it anyway!


	6. 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 6\. The avatar’s parents may or may not be equally awkward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Full Summary:
> 
> Sometimes, Asami would worry that she had somehow “broken” Korra.
> 
> Asami was under the impression that Korra was a confident, brave woman who went and got what she wanted whenever she wanted it. Korra fumbling with her words and getting very flustered was very unexpected.
> 
> Of course, the “not-very-Korra” behavior very much exists within the realm of “natural Korra behavior” and Asami is simply the only one to experience it thus far.
> 
> But being the engineer that she is, she takes notes on just how to “handle” the avatar the way that only she can. It's a labor of love, really.  
> ___________  
> (This is for my girlfriend, who inspired this whole thing to begin with)

**6\. The avatar’s parents may or may not be equally awkward.**

__________

Tonraq and Senna pretty much know that their baby girl can’t do any better than Asami.

They’ve talked about this. Many, many times. And each time they do, they come to the conclusion that they kinda-sorta-really-seriously want Asami Sato to marry their daughter. She’s smart, beautiful, and  _very financially stable_. They know that their daughter’s career as avatar will prevent her from ever having any stable form of income. And this worries them, because they fear for their precious Korra’s future. Could she have property? What if she gets sick? They suppose that the general public would always pitch in, however the problem persists. 

 _But if she marries Asami_ … Then maybe they could sleep a little better at night. 

It’s not like they’re trying to marry her off or anything like that. (But they are. They totally are.) They just want the best for their baby girl. And seriously, how could Korra top dating a CEO/engineer/inventor/badass?

So when Tonraq and Senna receive word that their daughter and her girlfriend will be visiting them for a few days, they pull all the stops.  _Anything for their baby girl._

__________

It’s a little over two years since Korra and Asami got into a relationship, but this is the first time Korra is bringing Asami with her for a week long stay at the Southern Water Tribe. It’s also going to be the first time that the avatar  _formally_  presents her girlfriend to her parents. 

Asami is struggling with anchoring the small airship they used to travel there, while Korra restlessly paces around, excited to reintroduce her girlfriend to her (equally excited) parents. After a while, Korra saunters over to Asami, trying to see just what exactly the engineer is up to.

Asami is pushing and pulling varied buttons and levers, and Korra watches on in awe.

"Can’t you make a Satobot to deal with that?"

"…Satobot?" Asami stops what she’s doing and turns to face Korra, eyebrow raised.

"Yeah! You know, those machines. I mean, you call the Satomobile the Satomobile, and the name of everything else escapes me. So, Satobot!"

"So all the things I make are either a Satomobile or a Satobot."

"Pretty much."

"How will I ever know which Satobot you’re referring to?"

"Huh." Korra shrugs, "Context, I guess. Besides, it’s not like I can identify each and every Satobot to save my life."

"That doesn’t seem very romantic", replies Asami, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Don’t worry, you’re always  _my_ favorite Satobot”, says Korra, who winks and pulls Asami into her arms.

And Asami wrinkles her nose but Korra laughs. She does love her Satobot, afterall. 

__________

When they finally do arrive at Korra’s parent’s house, they are greeted at the doorstep by a formally dressed Tonraq and Senna. Asami takes a moment to look at what she’s wearing and what her girlfriend is wearing, wondering if the process of introducing a significant other is some kind of sacred tradition. Upon examining, however, Asami sees that Korra appears to be equally confused.

"Dad! Mom! I missed you guys!" Korra exclaims, wrapping her parents in a tight embrace before continuing, "but uh, why dressed so formally?"

"You know sweetie, just wanted to make our  _guest_ feel welcome”, says Senna, roughly gesturing in Asami’s general direction.

And before Asami or Korra could speak, Tonraq huffs, in an intimidating but obviously rehearsed manner, before stepping forward and jutting a pointer finger in Asami’s face.

"NOW LISTEN HERE", he half shouts in Asami’s face, "YOU BETTER NOT DO ANYTHING TO HURT MY BABY GIRL OR I’LL…I’LL…"

 _Spirits_ , he tells himself,  _say it like you rehearsed with Senna_.

"I’LL THROW YOU. REALLY HARD. YEAH. I’LL THROW YOU REALLY HARD."

And Tonraq crosses his arms and huffs again, for good measure. 

"But that doesn’t mean that we don’t like you! We like you! Approve! Yeah! Boom! Ha ha! We really approve!" Senna now interrupts, stepping up a little too close to Asami, who raises her hands and half backs away in startled fear. 

"BUT I’LL THROW YOU IF YOU HURT KORRA! BUT YOU SEEM TO REALLY LOVE HER AND THAT’S GREAT. I AGREE WITH MY WIFE AND WOULD ALLOW YOU TO MARRY MY DAUGHTER."

"But only if you want to, okay?! You’re a grrrrreaaat match! Uh huh!"

Asami gapes at her girlfriend’s parents, who are now both uncomfortably close to her. Korra sees her visibly struggle to formulate a coherent response. Asami’s met them before, but it wasn’t anything like this. Hell, even Korra hasn’t seen them act up like this.

"Uuuh… How about you guys let us in now, okay", Korra finally interjects, before her parents could get any weirder.

Unfortunately, dinner did get weirder. In fact, it was more of the conversation that just took place, only with food involved.

__________

After a memorable (read: crazy) dinner, Asami settles in the guest room while Korra goes off to discuss something with her dad. “Boring traditional stuff, no biggie”, as Korra called it. Asami has her hunches about what it is. She is, after all, the one who understands Korra more than anyone else, and she greatly suspects that the “no biggie” is actually a “biggie”. But she casts these thoughts aside, determined to let her girlfriend play her little games, and unpacks for the both of them. 

It’s only really late into the night, when Asami has already curled up in bed, when Korra finally comes in. She asks Korra what took her so long and she dismisses it with the same excuse as earlier, as she changes her clothes and crawls into bed with the taller woman. Asami decides to let Korra tell her when she feels like telling her, and drops the subject, eager to sleep cuddled up to her girlfriend.

"Can you please turn off the lights Korra?" 

"Sure thing, Satobot", says the avatar, reaching over to the bedside lamp and turning it off, darkening the room. Moonlight pours in through their window, and Asami looks at her girlfriend’s figure as she settles in.

"Stop that."

"Stop what?"

"Calling me Satobot."

"But you  _aaaaare_  my favorite Satobot. Besides, it has a nice ring to it.”

"Oh yeah? Korratar."

"…"

"…"

"…Asami,  _no_.”

"…… _Oh. Okay._ ”

"…"

"… You su-"

“ _Positive._ ”

"……  _Okay._  It does sound silly”, Asami whispers, pouting and looking down, completely embarrassed at her lack of nicknaming abilities. (She does vow to study this when they get back home, much to Korra’s dismay.)

Korra can’t help but smile at how adorable her girlfriend is being. 

"Awww that’s okay babe, c’mere", Korra says with a laugh, pulling Asami into a warm embrace and kissing her on the nose, "you can call me anything you want."

“ _Mine_ ”, was the instant reply, purred by the engineer as she nestles against her girlfriend.

"Oh.  _Smooth_ ”, Korra says, smiling as seductively as she could, before going in for a passionate kiss. 

__________

The next morning, Korra’s parents excitedly get up as the couple enter the dining room. They quickly approach before the two could even get past the entryway. They are beaming, and practically radiating joy. Tonraq places one hand on Korra’s shoulder, patting it like a very,  _very_ proud father.

"So, has Asami accepted the betrothal necklace? Lemme see!"

It’s Korra’s absolutely horrified expression that causes the joy to slowly leak out of their faces, until they perfectly mirror their daughter. Asami looks like she’s about to pass out, blushing a very deep shade of red. They take a second to exchange glances, as if to confirm that  _yup, that just happened._

They then all affix their gazes to the ground, each carefully examining their own patch of floor. The air is thick and heavy with embarrassment. They stand there in awkward silence, letting it completely wash over them. Tonraq’s arm slides off Korra’s shoulder, slowly, awkwardly, like a painful punctuation mark on the turn of events. 

"So uh, nice weather, huh", Korra mumbles, scratching the back of her head.

"Heard there will be a chill later", Tonraq adds, as he inspects an apparently interesting speck on his boot.

"Really? That sucks", Korra answers, shifting her weight from one leg to another.

The group mumbles agreements in unison, still staring at the ground and letting that sweet, uncomfortable silence envelop them. 

___________

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [A/N] HA! I did it. Korra’s dork-ness must be genetic, ya know.


	7. 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 7\. Your relationship may grow beyond what you initially expected, and you may have to consider your future with the avatar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Full Summary:
> 
> Sometimes, Asami would worry that she had somehow “broken” Korra.
> 
> Asami was under the impression that Korra was a confident, brave woman who went and got what she wanted whenever she wanted it. Korra fumbling with her words and getting very flustered was very unexpected.
> 
> Of course, the “not-very-Korra” behavior very much exists within the realm of “natural Korra behavior” and Asami is simply the only one to experience it thus far.
> 
> But being the engineer that she is, she takes notes on just how to “handle” the avatar the way that only she can. It's a labor of love, really.  
> ___________  
> (This is for my girlfriend, who inspired this whole thing to begin with)

**7\. Your relationship may grow beyond what you initially expected, and you may have to consider your future with the avatar.**

__________

It’s about a month after the couple’s “wonderful” visit to the Southern Water Tribe, and Korra is yet to bring up anything betrothal necklace related. While Asami doesn’t mind, it does put things into perspective for her. Is she ready to get married? What will their life be like? Also, she’s pretty sure that the avatar won’t be bringing home any bacon, so it will be entirely up to her to support them. Is she okay with that? And on a political standpoint, is it bad for the avatar’s image to go off marrying a CEO of a company? Lastly, does Korra take up the Sato name? If so, does that make them both Satobots?

Asami’s inclinations do become apparent as she writes the name “Korra Sato” again and again in her little “idea notebook”. She feels that this is probably not how it conventionally goes down, but things are rarely conventional when it comes to the avatar. Besides, it’s not Asami’s fault that Korra doesn’t have a last name. 

Asami’s daydreaming is abruptly interrupted by a sharp knock on her office door. She quickly composes herself, tucking away her private journal before entertaining an assistant with a message from President Raiko. The contents of said message make Asami wonder if marriage is a good idea at all. 

The message, written by an obviously furious President Raiko, detail how it has come to his attention that the avatar continues to wreck public property, by using bending as her main method of transportation. He goes on, at length, detailing that Future Industries shall be assigned to fix all damages incurred by the avatar. He promises financial compensation for all services offered, but Asami gets the hint that this is Raiko’s way of making Asami personally deal with the source of the problem. 

As Asami finishes reading the message, she puts the letter down and pinches the bridge of her nose. 

“ _Spirits_ ”, she mumbles, “ _What am I getting myself into?”_

_______________

Later that day, when Asami tells Korra of President Raiko’s complaint, Korra huffs, crossing her arms over her chest and scowls.

"Well then you can tell Raiko to kiss a flying lemur’s ass!"

“ _Korra_ ”, Asami says, hands on her hips, trying to get the avatar to see the obvious error in her ways.

"Why doesn’t he try to catch criminals without damaging anything then!? Besides, it’s not that bad!", the avatar exclaims, throwing her arms up in frustration.

“ _Kooorraaa_ ”, Asami asserts, knowing full well that the extent of the damage may take weeks to repair. _  
_

Korra humphs, looking away defiantly and crossing her arms over her chest. She’s convinced that she’s on the right on this one. That she totally had to intervene when the Republic City police were obviously already on the trail. But Asami’s scolding glare chips away at Korra’s defenses, until finally she lets her shoulders slump.

“ _I’m sorry_ ”, the avatar finally mumbles. 

Asami smiles back, gently, and embraces Korra. 

___________

The next day, the engineer presents Korra with her new form of transportation.

“ _A bicycle?_ Asami why can’t I just ride Naga?”

"Say what you will about Naga, but I don’t think she’s smart enough to learn any traffic rules, babe."

At the mention of her name, Naga perks up and tries to run towards the couple, only to trip on her own feet and face-plant. The couple observes this, and sighs.

"Fair point", Korra says, "but you do know that I don’t know how to ride a bicycle, right?"

"Yeah. That’s why I’ll teach you", her girlfriend replies, who then flips her hair and bats her eyelashes not unlike the time when she offered to teach the avatar how to drive. This makes the avatar’s heart beat a little faster, and suddenly learning how to ride a bike isn’t so bad after all.

_________

Apparently, with Asami as instructor, learning how to ride a bike isn’t so hard. Asami herself marvels at how fast the avatar is picking up the skill, wondering if being an avatar has anything to do with it. She concludes that it has more to do with Korra’s athleticism than anything else, and watches fondly as her girlfriend rides in circles in the Sato mansion’s driveway. 

"Look babe! I’m doing it! I’m riding a bicycle!  _I’m totally the first avatar to ride a bicycle! TAKE THAT, KIYOSHI!”_

"Yeeeesss babe, you’re doing great!"

"Wheeeeee!! Look at me! I’m going so fast!! I like this more than driving!"

"Alright babe, just be sure to- OH NO KORRA NO DON’T GO THERE!"

But it’s too late. Korra gleefully rides her bicycle onto the street and into the dangerous embrace of incoming traffic.

* **BEEEEEEEEEEEP***

***CRAAAAAAAASSSHHH***

Asami runs out to find Korra rolling in the pavement in pain. She kneels next to her, and immediately checks to see if there are any severe injuries.

"KORRA! KORRA ARE YOU OKAY!?"

And Korra groans out, blinking a couple of times before affixing her gaze on Asami, who was clearly very worried. And she hates making Asami worried.

"You should see the other guy", Korra says, trying to pull a smile while clutching her aching side.

"…Korra you were hit by a car."

"Exactly.  _Totally crushed it._ ”

And Asami looks and sees that  _yes, Korra did crush the car_. The poor driver is unharmed, but utterly and completely shocked. It isn’t everyday that the avatar comes crashing into your vehicle and destroys it. 

By all rights, Asami should be upset, but instead she laughs. An honest, tears-in-her-eyes, stomach cramping laugh. And Korra just smiles half dazed on the pavement, as her girlfriend laughs and laughs until she’s breathless. 

When she does finish with her laughing spell, she helps Korra get up and brings her to their bedroom, where Asami tends to her girlfriend’s very minor injuries and lectures her about the laws of the road.

And she never says it out loud, but this is when she decides that the consequences of marrying the avatar don’t matter. After all, when things are all said and done, she wont be married to the avatar, but to Korra, the love of her life. Nothing could make her happier than that. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [A/N] Happy new year!! I was supposed to write about something else entirely but hey, new year so whatever! I hope everyone’s having fun!
> 
> Also, I started writing this in 2014 and it’s now 2015… soo… technically it took me a year to write this! *wiggles eyebrows*


	8. 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 8\. Things won’t always be perfect, but you’ll surely find ways to get through to each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Full Summary:
> 
> Sometimes, Asami would worry that she had somehow “broken” Korra.
> 
> Asami was under the impression that Korra was a confident, brave woman who went and got what she wanted whenever she wanted it. Korra fumbling with her words and getting very flustered was very unexpected.
> 
> Of course, the “not-very-Korra” behavior very much exists within the realm of “natural Korra behavior” and Asami is simply the only one to experience it thus far.
> 
> But being the engineer that she is, she takes notes on just how to “handle” the avatar the way that only she can. It's a labor of love, really.  
> ___________  
> (This is for my girlfriend, who inspired this whole thing to begin with)

**8\. Things won’t always be perfect, but you’ll surely find ways to get through to each other.**

_________

It’s the time of year when Republic City is bustling with economic and political life. International diplomats and world leaders all meet to discuss the future of the world while expos are held all over to theorize the future of technology.

Naturally, both the CEO of Future Industries and the avatar have been incredibly busy.

Asami can be very work-minded. It was always easy for her to completely immerse herself in her job and the endless list of things that require doing. It’s like a switch that gets toggled. When she’s working, she’s working. When she isn’t, she isn’t. And when she’s working, she’s always working hard. This, however, means that she tends to shut everything else out when she “goes in too deep”. 

Korra manages to balance her work and personal life really well. Not because she draws a fine line between the two like Asami, but because she considers the two entities as one and the same.  _She is Korra, the avatar._ For her, there is never a moment where one ceases to exist while the other thrives. It allows Korra to be true to herself and to her role at all times. This, however, means that her personal feelings tend to get in the way of her professional ones. 

Which is why Korra finds herself increasingly frustrated with the lack of attention and support her girlfriend has been giving her for the past few days. At first, she reminds herself that it’s just the way Asami functions and that she should be patient. After all, Asami is a very important person, both to her and Republic City. Asami, like the avatar, has responsibilities she simply cannot ignore. However, as it goes on Korra feels the discomfort gather at the pit of her heart and slowly, but surely, her reasoning blurs. 

Thus, the couple stands in the middle of their kitchen, arguing. It starts out with a cold comment from Korra, hurt that Asami cannot attend a certain political event,  _yet again._  Before they realize it, they’re at each other’s throats, both too stressed and too tired to want to peacefully talk it through.  _  
_

"Don’t you understand how important this is to me, Asami?!"

"Maybe you aren’t understanding how important this is to  _me_ , Korra!” _  
_

"Whatever, then! You can go do whatever you want. Forget I even said anything."

Asami looks Korra in the eye, clearly hurt and clearly upset, but Korra doesn’t budge. She stares right back at Asami, fuming, even though she knows how wrong she is, because she wants Asami to understand her needs and her wants.

And so Asami Sato walks out.

_________

It is a few hours after Asami walks out when Korra’s parents drop by for a visit. Tonraq’s presence is required at the coming world conference, so it’s only natural that the avatar’s parents go and see how their precious baby girl is doing. What they find, instead, is said precious baby girl sitting in the living room couch looking distressed and crestfallen, shoulders slumped and face buried in her hands. 

Korra tells them of the fight that had just taken place, and her parents gasp. They gasp so loudly and so sharply that for a second Korra is worried that they’d get heart attacks. And when the initial shock settles, both parents stand in front of their daughter, arms crossed in front of their chests, like they would when they reprimand her when she was a child. 

"What are you waiting for then?" Huffs a very disappointed Tonraq.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Go after her,  _and apologize this instant._ " Huffs an equally disappointed Senna. _  
_

"Are you guys serious right now?"

"Korra,  _you’ve been through this._  You know that we love you. And that Asami loves you. Just talk things through. She will understand” says Senna, gentler this time, putting a hand on her daughter’s shoulder.

"AND IF YOU LOSE THIS ONE I’LL THROW YOU AFTER I THROW HER, OKAY?" Her father half shouts before they push her out the door.

_________

This isn’t the first time that Asami has found herself talking to the statue in Avatar Korra Park to calm herself down. Spirits know how often she visited during the three years of the avatar’s absence. Each time she would stand before it, as she is now, pouring her heart out as if the statue were Korra herself.

Asami is in tune with herself, and her emotions. Whenever anything bad would happen, she would allow herself a moment to grieve, to feel hurt, before she finds the strength to carry on once more. And she does this, by telling the statue how much she does care, and how much she needs to work because so many people are depending on her. She expresses how her girlfriend of all people should know that, and since the times are tough, they should support each even more. It is in this spiel that Asami acknowledges her flaws, and apologizes for drowning herself in work.  _  
_

When she finishes, she wipes away the traces of her tears. Part of her had hoped that Korra would come find her and they would make up on the spot, but alas, Korra was still being reprimanded by her parents at that moment.

And so she walks back to the factory, to get to work once again.

_________

As if Asami’s day couldn’t get any better, she finds herself in a meeting room full of prying journalists instead. They’re there due to a leakage of information, related to the possible harnessing of spirit vine energy as weapons once again. Asami does her best to quickly snuff out this rumor, as she is certain that no one in their right mind would attempt such a thing after Kuvira’s fall. 

But they don’t back down. In fact, the line of questioning becomes more and more brash, each speaking right after the other. Asami’s intuition tells her that a rival company has supplied the media with these rumors, perhaps in a last ditch effort to dirty Future Industries’ name in lieu of the coming expos. Nonetheless, Asami fights on, answering one question after the other in a rapid-fire sense, determined to protect her company.

There’s just too many of them though, and soon enough Asami finds herself overwhelmed by the sheer volume of accusations thrown at her.

And right before Asami considers walking out for the second time that day, a powerful gust of wind blows through the room, strong enough to flip all the tables in the meeting room over.

There Korra stands, in the doorway, fearsome and furious. 

"I THINK THIS MEETING IS  _OVER_ ”, the avatar bellows, causing all the journalists to scramble to their feet and scurry out. 

A moment of silence passes as the tension diffuses and the couple sighs deeply.

"You know they’ll write all about this tomorrow, right?" Asami says, turning to face her girlfriend, relieved.

"Yeah. Let them. It doesn’t really matter. You looked like you needed some support", says Korra as she sheepishly rubs the back of her neck. 

And Asami approaches Korra and embraces her, as tightly as she could, thankful.

“ _I’m sorry_ ”, they whisper to one another, and they part, smiling at each other.

"And just so you know, my dad said he’d throw you  _and then throw me_  if ever we broke up.”

"That’s awful nice of him", Asami says with a giggle, tucking loose strands of hair behind her ear.

"… So… We okay now…?"

"Yeah. We are."

________

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [A/N] So yeah. That happened. Fights are a natural part of relationships and seriously this was waiting to happen. I still felt terrible writing about it though. I had to take like, three long breaks because it was really getting to me. I kept asking myself “WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOU FOOL” but I finished it anyway. Wheeeeee. Don’t worry, our scheduled joyride of funtimes and jokes will resume tomorrow-ish. 
> 
> Also, that Korra table flip. I’ve always wanted to write Korra flipping tables. I’ll probably try to make that happen again. It’s just too good. 
> 
> Also also, I originally wanted to write Korra’s parents more as “how dare you fight with Asami she’s super rich and you’ll never find anyone like her, bad Korra bad” but it didn’t feel right. I hope I did them justice.


	9. 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 9\. Her health may or may not be tied to her pet polar bear dog, but that doesn't really matter because you’re utterly, completely, truly devoted to her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Full Summary:
> 
> Sometimes, Asami would worry that she had somehow “broken” Korra.
> 
> Asami was under the impression that Korra was a confident, brave woman who went and got what she wanted whenever she wanted it. Korra fumbling with her words and getting very flustered was very unexpected.
> 
> Of course, the “not-very-Korra” behavior very much exists within the realm of “natural Korra behavior” and Asami is simply the only one to experience it thus far.
> 
> But being the engineer that she is, she takes notes on just how to “handle” the avatar the way that only she can. It's a labor of love, really.  
> ___________  
> (This is for my girlfriend, who inspired this whole thing to begin with)

**9\. Her health may or may not be tied to her pet polar bear dog, but that doesn’t really matter because you’re utterly, completely, truly devoted to her.**

________

_It is said that the avatar’s animal guide only lives as long as its master, and once the avatar reincarnates, so too does the animal guide. It is also of significance that the species of the animal guide does not necessarily predict its corresponding avatar master’s lifespan. In fact, there are many recorded instances of animal guides exceeding the expected lifespan of its kind. Additionally, there are multiple instances when an animal guide will acquire the same illnesses as their master, be it lethal or not._

At least, according to the textbook “The Avatar and the Cycles”, which Asami read. While she is skeptical about this information, Asami is never one to take any chances. Her devotion to Korra knows no limits, and she will stop at nothing to ensure that the current avatar gets to live a nice, long life. Which is why she renovates the Sato residence’s backyard (again) and turns it into an athletic playground that even Naga can play in. Of course, the magnificent statue of Korra still stands proud in the middle despite the many protests of Korra herself. 

“ _Come on,_ " says Asami, trying to coax Naga into doing some cardio, " _go play._ ”

Asami then gestures to the area intended for Naga to run around, a simple patch of green grass with a chew toy in the middle. 

But Naga only stares at the engineer, tilting her head. 

“ _Spirits Naga, you need your daily exercise or else your health will deteriorate,_ " Asami asserts, now very vexed. 

Korra watches on from a nearby bench, amused at her girlfriend’s inability to interact with an animal when she isn’t trying to ride it. Korra does, however, note that Asami spoils the polar bear dog rotten, never sparing any expense when it comes to her health. Best food money could buy? Check. Constant grooming and regular check-ups at the local (very frightened) vet? Check. Frivolous spending on recreational activities? Double check. 

And as Asami begins wildly waving her arms around, in a vague attempt to communicate with Naga (who decides to tackle her because she thinks it’s a game), Korra laughs, happy that they’re getting along so well. 

But while Asami does care about Naga (who has her pinned down and is slobbering all over her), she really just wants to ensure the avatar gets a long lifespan, no matter how irrational the means may be. 

________

It’s when Korra is away on one of her “avatar tours” that Asami sees it from her bedroom window one Saturday morning. At first the thinks it’s her imagination, but when she stares, observes, her fears are confirmed.

There, out in the backyard, Naga is  _sneezing_.

And Asami gasps.

Her fears deepen however, as the sneezing Naga plods around until she throws up and falls over, passed out.

She quickly cancels all meetings for the day, and brings Naga to the vet, who tells her, somewhat unhelpfully, that Naga “has some kind of flu”. 

"I-I-I’m s-sorry Miss S-Sato," the scrawny vet stutters, "B-but we don’t…. W-we don’t have any m-m-medicine for a… a polar bear dog…"

Asami scowls at the vet, unsatisfied with the response.

"A-Ah.. B-but… Ah," the scrawny vet continues, clearly cracking under the pressure of Asami’s fury, "r-r-rest and… plenty of rest and plenty of.. of w-w-water s-should do.."

And with a quick mumbled “thank you”, Asami turns to leave, determined to nurse the polar bear dog to health herself. 

________

It’s a day later when Korra (whose avatar tour is cancelled midway) returns home, very sick with the flu. 

Asami resolves to give her assistant a big bonus because she definitely won’t be going back to work until her girlfriend gets better. And although it hurts her pride, she even calls Varrick (who was surprisingly cooperative and understanding) for help. Thus Asami takes a short leave while Zhu Li manages things, promising to do her best as thanks for all the avatar has done for the city. 

"Hey babe," says Asami, entering the bedroom with a tray, "I made you some soup."

Korra coughs and sniffles, while struggling to smile as Asami sets the tray down on their bedside table. 

"How are you feeling today? Tenzin keeps asking about you," Asami continues, placing a hand on Korra’s forehead to check her temperature. 

 _Good_ , she thinks to herself,  _the fever is finally going down_.

"Mhmm… I do feel a lot better," says Korra, sniffling, "How’s Naga? Is she doing better too? Weird how we both got sick at the same time, huh?"

 _Very weird indeed_ , Asami thinks to herself, now burdened with the irrational fear that Naga’s lifespan is indeed linked to Korra’s. 

"Naga is doing a lot better," says the engineer, picking up the bowl of soup, "but right now we’re taking care of Korratar, aren’t we?"

“ _Asamiiii nooooo_ ,” Korra says with a bit too much assertion, causing her to cough, before she continues, “I don’t like that pet name.”

"But the Satobot is okay with being called the Satobot because the Satobot got used to it," says Asami, feeding Korra a spoonful of soup, "so why can’t Korratar get used to being called Korratar?"

And Asami giggles while Korra blushes and mumbles something under her breath.

"What did you say Korratar?"

"Hmmph."

"Oh come on," Asami pleads while pouting, the kind of pout that makes Korra do  _anything_ for her girlfriend whether she likes it or not, “pleaaase?”

And Korra fumbles with her hands, looking down and blushing, reminding Asami of the time when Korra fainted just asking the taller woman out for a date. 

"Soup me first," says Korra, opening her mouth with an "aaaaaah".

And Asami feeds Korra another spoonful of soup. 

"I said," Korra finally says, and after another moment of looking at the sheets, she looks directly into Asami’s green eyes, still blushing, "that I’d rather be a Satobot too."

They stare at each other in silence when the gears in Asami’s head suddenly click and the weight of Korra’s words finally sink in.

And Asami gasps. 

________

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [A/N] I was originally going to write more than that but I think that little cliffhanger is perfect so everyone can all chew on that. Bwahahahaha!
> 
> With regard to the little “theory” at the beginning, it has already been debunked with Fang’s appearance in the spirit world I think. But not everyone in the avatar universe knows that so I thought it would make sense for this kind of misconception to spread around. (Don’t worry Naga just happened to get sick at around the same time as Korra and she’s totally gonna be fine.)


	10. 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 10\. She’s a keeper, so you better beat her to the punch and make her yours before she even gets to ask.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Full Summary:
> 
> Sometimes, Asami would worry that she had somehow “broken” Korra.
> 
> Asami was under the impression that Korra was a confident, brave woman who went and got what she wanted whenever she wanted it. Korra fumbling with her words and getting very flustered was very unexpected.
> 
> Of course, the “not-very-Korra” behavior very much exists within the realm of “natural Korra behavior” and Asami is simply the only one to experience it thus far.
> 
> But being the engineer that she is, she takes notes on just how to “handle” the avatar the way that only she can. It's a labor of love, really.  
> ___________  
> (This is for my girlfriend, who inspired this whole thing to begin with)

**10\. She’s a keeper, so you better beat her to the punch and make her yours before she even gets to ask.**

________

Asami and Mako don’t exactly have what one would call a “conventional friendship”. After all, they met by the former hitting the latter with a scooter. Then they dated. Then the latter cheated on the former. Then they break up. Then they’re friends. Then they have a small adventure on a boat where some mafia guys were involved. Then the former kisses the latter, who’s supposed to be single but doesn’t say anything when his ex somehow forgets about it. Then the former realizes that the latter really isn’t for her. Then they’re friends again. It gets weird sometimes.

But that isn’t why Asami Sato is visiting Mako at his apartment. Well, at least it isn’t the whole reason why. So she knocks at the door, and after a few moments Mako opens it, surprised.

"Asami if this is about Korra breaking some law," Mako begins, averting his gaze to the floor and rubbing the back of his neck, "you’re probably better off asking Lin for help. I’m a bodyguard now, remember?"

"I know," Asami begins, "but this isn’t about that."

Mako sees the serious expression on Asami’s face, and feeling that this is a conversation best had seated, he invites her inside with a nod of the head.

Once seated Asami pulls a small box out of her purse, and opens it. It’s a ring. And it’s not just any ring. It’s an engagement ring. Asami sets the box on the coffee table between them. Mako takes a moment to process what is happening. He glances from the ring, a beautiful silver band (engraved with details he can’t quite make out from his seated position across Asami), to Asami, who stares at him almost expectantly. 

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"What do you think?"

"What do you mean "what do I think"? It’s a ring, Asami."

"An engagement ring, Mako."

"Okay, an engagement ring."

"I’m going to propose to Korra, Mako."

"…Congratulations?"

And Asami purses her lips, as if dissatisfied by Mako’s response. He raises an eyebrow, prompting Asami to elaborate further. 

"Are you okay with this?" Asami finally asks, tentatively, "you aren’t against it?"

"Asami," Mako begins, pinching the bridge of his nose out of habit, "I can’t believe you came over to my apartment at 5 in the morning to ask if its okay with me if you decide to ask  _your girlfriend_ if she wants to marry you.”

And while Asami mulls it over, Mako stops pinching the bridge of his nose (it’s a habit that makes him seem like a grumpy old man, at least according to Wu), and smiles.

"But I’m happy for you," he continues, genuinely happy, "I know we don’t exactly have the best history, but I consider you one of my closest friends. You and Korra have something special."

And Mako pauses, rubbing the back of his neck again, clearly uncomfortable. But nonetheless he continues as Asami patiently listens, a small smile on her lips. 

"I guess I am jealous of what you guys have… sorta, but I’ll support you guys no matter what. Like I told Korra once, I’ll always have your back."

"Thanks, Mako."

"No problem Asami."

_______

Maybe it’s a woman’s intuition or a mother’s, but when Senna opens their front door and finds Asami standing there (alone, no less), polite yet serious, she  _knows._

But her husband, spirits bless him, doesn’t quite sense things the same way she does and instead walks straight up to the poor girl, already in the mood to “intimidate” their daughter’s girlfriend.

"ASAMI  _LOOK,_ " Tonraq says, brandishing his large hands in Asami’s face, " _I KILLED AN ANIMAL WITH THESE HANDS._ ”

"Honey,  _Asami wants to propose,_ " interjects Senna, shooting a look that clearly says " _drop the act it’s finally happening like we wanted_ " at her husband.

The gears in Tonraq’s head click (in a fashion similar to Korra, Asami notes), and he instantly bear hugs Asami (so tight that she feels like her ribs are breaking), lifting her up and then putting her down and finally letting go, keeping both hands on her shoulders. He grins broadly at Asami.

"You most definitely have our approval!"

"Thank you, s-sir."

"You can call me  _dad_ now,” Tonraq says, grinning even broader.

"O-okay… dad," replies Asami, filled with a kind of bittersweet happiness that’s more sweet than bitter.

And Senna claps in the background. 

________

"Korra? Are you free later? How about we go out tonight," says Asami, stroking Korra’s hair as she rests on the engineer’s lap. 

"Yeah, sure. Funny, I was about to ask you out," Korra replies, blushing a little more than she should, which Asami notices. 

 _She’s going to propose_ , Asami muses, and she smiles sweetly.

Asami stares into Korra’s blue eyes, thinking of the engagement ring burning in her jacket’s pocket, of the waves engraved on its silver band and the diamond that adorns it. She thinks of how Korra makes her feel like she’s lost at sea but in a good way, how she feels completely, truly safe. How she feels  _home_. 

"Yes," Asami says, barely audible enough for the avatar to hear.

"What?"

"Yes," Asami repeats, louder, with conviction.

"Yes?"

"Let’s get married."

And Korra bolts up so quickly she thinks she may have hurt her back, but that doesn’t matter because Asami is currently pulling the box out of her jacket, opening it to offer Korra the ring.

"Will you marry me?" Asami asks, almost in a trance. She’s doing it. She’s actually doing it. She’s asking her girlfriend to marry her. The same girlfriend who was once her rival, who was once just an acquaintance. But Korra is her  _family_ , and she’ll be damned if she loses this one too. 

"I- ah…" Korra gapes, clearly at a loss for words. 

But she puts a hand in her pocket, and pulls out a betrothal necklace. Wordlessly, she holds it up for Asami, and blushes a shade of red that almost matches the engineer’s lipstick. 

"M-my dad," Korra finally says, "my dad comes from the Northern Water Tribe, and there, this is how they propose."

"I know."

"So…?"

"I already said yes," says Asami, blushing as well, and leans forward, allowing Korra to put the necklace on Asami. The smooth stone adorning the necklace is hand carved, with waves washing over a gear, very much like how Asami feels. 

"And that’s a yes from me, too," says Korra, offering her hand, and Asami slips the ring on.

"I guess that makes you a Satobot too now," Asami says, giggling and looking so very fondly at her  _fiance._  

"Do I really have to take on the Sato name?" Korra retorts, but she doesn’t let Asami reply. Instead she pulls her in for a kiss.

It wasn’t how the avatar rehearsed with Naga, but now they’re engaged and really, Korra wouldn’t have it any other way.

____________

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [A/N] Sorry if Mako was written a bit weirdly. I felt like it’s important for him and Asami to talk things through one way or another, which is why he’s part of the chapter. 
> 
> Many fics discuss many different ways that the whole proposal scene goes down. All I know for certain is that Asami is going to propose one way or another, regardless of whether or not Korra plans to, too.
> 
> As per usual, I was working on a different fic (tentatively titled “The Way We Do Things”), but this one demanded to be written. So, uh. Enjoy!


	11. 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 11\. You will be engaged to the avatar. It’s important that you know the gravity of what that entails

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Full Summary:
> 
> Sometimes, Asami would worry that she had somehow “broken” Korra.
> 
> Asami was under the impression that Korra was a confident, brave woman who went and got what she wanted whenever she wanted it. Korra fumbling with her words and getting very flustered was very unexpected.
> 
> Of course, the “not-very-Korra” behavior very much exists within the realm of “natural Korra behavior” and Asami is simply the only one to experience it thus far.
> 
> But being the engineer that she is, she takes notes on just how to “handle” the avatar the way that only she can. It's a labor of love, really.  
> ___________  
> (This is for my girlfriend, who inspired this whole thing to begin with)

**11\. You will be engaged to the avatar. It’s important that you know the gravity of what that entails**

__________

There are many days that Asami wishes her fiance was just Korra and not the avatar. 

Like now, as said fiance comes home beaten and battered, with Bolin standing next to her equally beaten and battered. His shirt is unusually clean though, if that’s of any importance.

"Korra! Bolin! What happened!? Are you guys okay!?"

Sensing the concern in Asami’s voice (and wanting to dispel it), Korra grins and rubs the back of her neck, chuckling. 

"Nothing, dear. Nothing at all! Just uh… playing around."

Korra only calls Asami “dear” when she’s being evasive. Asami knows this. So she raises an eyebrow at her fiance, who flinches under the weight of Asami’s there’s-something-you-aren’t-telling-me frown. 

"Actually Asami," Bolin interrupts before Asami could make Korra crack, "we got into a fight with these triple threats! IT WAS AWESOME."

The avatar elbows Bolin in the ribs, making him yelp.

"We were  _playing around_ , remember?” Korra asserts, shooting Bolin a look that Asami clearly read as “like we rehearsed on the way here”.

"O-Oh! Yeah! Right. Playing around! Playing around with the triple threats!"

Korra groans, face-palming. Bolin smiles, oblivious as to what’s going on. Asami isn’t amused.

“ _Korra_.”

 _Oh no_ , Korra thinks to herself,  _that’s Asami’s “business voice”._

And Korra is right to fear the “business voice”. After all, it’s that same voice that Asami uses to reprimand her fiance and send her out to sleep on the couch. And Korra doesn’t want to sleep on the couch. So her shoulders slump, defeated. Bolin seems to finally pick up on what’s happening, although he still seems confused. 

"Ooookaaayyy," Korra huffs, "we did get into a fight with some triple threats."

"And at first we were beating them up," Bolin adds, "but uh… well…"

"I told Bolin that we had to take them down without any bending," Korra finishes, looking away.

"What? Why?" Asami asks.

"Well, remember that thing with President Raiko saying that he’ll make Future Industries "clean up after my messes"? I uh… Just didn’t wanna give you any more work to do, you know?"

In a flash Asami’s quiet anger dissipates. Korra didn’t want to use any bending to avoid damaging any city property. This act fills Asami with adoration for the avatar, who despite her responsibilities, finds the time to worry about things that Asami has long come into terms with. She steps forward and embraces Korra, who hugs back, relieved that she won’t have to sleep on the couch. Bolin joins in just because he likes hugs.

"It’s okay Korra", Asami says, still locked in embrace, "just do what you do best, and I’ll support you no matter what."

__________

After Kuvira’s fall, team avatar has made it a point to meet at least once a month over dinner, regardless of how busy everyone is. And it’s during one of these monthly dinners that Bolin tells the crew about his little “adventure” beating up criminals with the avatar just the other day.

"And I kid you not," says Bolin, enraptured in his own storytelling, "Korra chases down these triple threats on a  _bicycle_!”

"And that’s not even all!" he continues, waving his arms, "when she finally manages to catch up to the guys, she  _parks her bicycle and chains it up at a lamppost, before beating them up!_ ” _  
_

Everyone breaks into laughter. Under the table, Asami’s hand finds Korra’s thigh and gives it a light squeeze. Korra grins at Asami, proud and loving, before turning to look at Bolin.

"Oh yeah Bolin?", she interjects, leaning into the table, "who was it that had to take off his shirt because it was a gift from Opal?" 

"ME!" Bolin exclaims, before roaring with laughter. 

He high fives the avatar, while their respective girlfriends exchange a glance and then shrug, giving in to the humor of the whole affair. 

__________

It’s not everyday that Lin Beifong herself comes knocking on your door. Which is why Asami is shocked to find the chief of police herself standing at her doorstep, shoving into the engineer’s hands what appears to be a metalbending police cable set. 

"Listen, I’m not gonna draw this out," Lin says authoritatively, "But Korra looks fucking stupid chasing people around on a bicycle the way she does. I’m doing you guys a favor and gifting you that cable set. It’s standard issue. That is all. Bye."

And just like that, Lin turns around and begins walking away. Asami shifts her grip on the (rather heavy) metalbending kit, freeing her other hand, which she uses to cup her mouth to shout back,

"Do you like the fruit baskets we send you!?"

Without stopping or turning around, Lin raises her arm for Asami to see. 

It’s a thumbs up. 

__________

Since the public announcement of their engagement, the Sato household has been receiving a steady flow of fan mail for the avatar. Asami believes that it’s due to the more “permanent” relationship of the couple, giving the public a real address to send their regards to the avatar. Korra is content to go with Asami’s explanation, as she’s simply more excited over the fact that people have begun showering her in praise. It has thus become a weekly activity for the couple to sort through all the mail on the floor of Asami’s study.

It’s through this weekly ritual that the couple discovers the full spectrum of people that live in the world. 

There are the token heartfelt letters, the handmade stuffed toys, and the odd hate mail or two. But it’s the stranger gifts that really grab the couple’s attention. For example, the gift that they begin to expect, that without fail, will always appear in the weekly pile no matter what. 

A cabbage.

And not just any cabbage. This cabbage is special. On its side, carved out crudely using some kind of dull knife, is one thing. No address, no name, no nothing. Just the one thing. 

"I <3 u"

At first this unnerved the couple. Should they feel afraid? Happy? Excited? Appalled? But it’s just a cabbage. And sure as the sea, it comes in every week. Korra once suggested that they keep a lookout to see who this mysterious sender is (since it appears that the delivery is made in person), but Asami insisted that some things are better left unknown. So they simply accept it as it is. 

"Hey, Asami, come look at this," Korra says, laughing, holding up a poster sized drawing. 

It’s a drawing of the avatar naked. At least, the artist’s impression of what Korra would look like naked. She’s even drawn in the avatar state for reasons that Korra could not grasp. 

Asami gapes at the poster, incredulous. She feels anger bubble in the pit of her stomach, and scowls at the drawing. It isn’t even accurate ( _Korra’s six pack is much better than that_ , Asami muses). Or very good at all, for that matter. _  
_

 _The nerve of some people!_ Asami thinks to herself, immediately reaching out for a pen and paper while Korra watches on, confused.

Asami proceeds to write the artist a very long, very strongly worded letter explaining that there are lines that one shouldn’t cross and they crossed at least fifty. Asami then continued by saying that she’s engaged to the avatar and that only she has the privilege to see her fiance naked. She concluded by stating that the artist can “suck on that”.

The engineer then marches out of the room, leaving Korra confused, and later returns, having commanded her assistant to send that letter _immediately_. It takes Korra a while, but it finally sinks in and she smirks at her fiance.

"Awww is the Satobot jealooouuuuus?" Korra teases, smug.

But Asami doesn’t answer, instead she lunges for Korra, grabbing her and pulling her in for a searing kiss. 

“ _Ohhhhhh,_ " Korra manages to say, breathy, as Asami lines kisses along Korra’s neck, before gently biting her earlobe. 

“ _Mine,_ " Asami whispers, before pulling the shorter woman up and leading her to their bedroom, where she gets to fully enjoy her fiance’s naked body. 

__________

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [A/N] I did it! Wheeeee. Sorry it took a while. Life sort of jumped in my face and did cartwheels until I did the things it wanted me to do. And then my ability to words sort of fell over and had a seizure. I think it’s okay now? IDK. It doesn’t usually take me so long to write but hey, stuff happens sometimes. Hahahaha I’ll see if I can squeeze in another update.


	12. 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 12\. She may be the master of all four elements, but you’ll still wonder how she’s managed to survive before she met you. Also, teasing her is your new favorite hobby.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Full Summary:
> 
> Sometimes, Asami would worry that she had somehow “broken” Korra.
> 
> Asami was under the impression that Korra was a confident, brave woman who went and got what she wanted whenever she wanted it. Korra fumbling with her words and getting very flustered was very unexpected.
> 
> Of course, the “not-very-Korra” behavior very much exists within the realm of “natural Korra behavior” and Asami is simply the only one to experience it thus far.
> 
> But being the engineer that she is, she takes notes on just how to “handle” the avatar the way that only she can. It's a labor of love, really.  
> ___________  
> (This is for my girlfriend, who inspired this whole thing to begin with)

**12\. She may be the master of all four elements, but you’ll still wonder how she’s managed to survive before she met you. Also, teasing her is your new favorite hobby.**

________

Asami has had stressful days, and then she’s had  _very_ stressful days. 

And her day was proving to be more of the latter. 

Nothing was working out the way she wanted it to. Prototypes breaking apart before they could even be tested, business meetings with very difficult (and somewhat stupid) individuals, Varrick somehow making things that shouldn’t blow up, blow up. The last being the most frustrating for the engineer, because making satomobiles more aerodynamic should most definitely not involve any explosions. It’s times like these that make her question her decision to let Varrick head her research department (but granted, it’s really only him and his wife that compose the whole department. No one else really likes working with them).

Asami spends the whole day trying to rectify these faults and move her company forward, focusing on how much she’ll unwind later that evening with a nice cup of tea and maybe a plate of pancakes, which she always enjoys having after a particularly bad day at work. (She believes that eating breakfast again is a way to “restart” the day.)

So she returns home later that evening, with an announced “I’m home”, hoping to get her butler to make her some pancakes. Said butler seems to shrink away at her request, however, and suddenly Asami feels like she never left work at all. She dismisses her butler with a wave of the hand and goes to the kitchen herself, steeling herself for whatever problem it might be this time. 

There she finds her fiance, sheepishly smiling at her, their kitchen an absolute mess. 

Pancake batter is  _everywhere_. On the walls and ceiling, spattered about as if Korra had somehow made a pancake batter bomb of some form. Asami stands in the kitchen doorway, hands on her hips, silently demanding an explanation.

"H-Heeeey Satobot… Babe.. Heeeyyy…" Korra says in a failed attempt at sounding casual, covered in pancake batter herself.

And Asami frowns deeper, making Korra flinch.

"Ooookaayyy," Korra begins, pouting like a puppy polar bear dog and affixing her gaze to the floor, "I wanted to make pancakes before you got back but then I wanted to make them special so I thought "why not make a pancake ball" and so I bent the pancake batter into a ball and tried to cook it with firebending and then… yyeaaahhh…"

Korra shuffles her feet a little bit, hopeful that maybe Asami finds her fiance cute enough to let the whole affair go, but after an exasperated sigh Asami declares the avatar’s punishment for ruining the kitchen.

“ _Couch. 2 nights,_ " she says, pinching the bridge of her nose, very understandably upset.

Korra looks mortified but then her shoulders droop in defeat and she goes and gets a pillow and a blanket from their bedroom and settles into her new reality. 

It’s only late into the night when Asami reconsiders Korra’s sentence, and decides to call Korra back in.

After all, Asami can play mad at Korra all she likes, but the real cure to a bad day is a nice, loving embrace.  

________

Asami is in the middle of tweaking her latest project (a smaller, more compact camera) when she hears a loud crash coming from one of the work area’s storage rooms. Remembering that she brought her fiance to work today, she gets up, bringing the prototype with her, hoping that the love of her life hasn’t done anything to hurt herself (again).

She finds said love of her life buried under a sea of paint cans, her face and left hand sticking out, waving about hopelessly. 

“ _Heeeeeeelp_ ,” the all-powerful avatar whines, looking lost and sad and oh-so helpless. 

Asami laughs while her fiance pouts and the engineer has to wonder how on earth has Korra managed to get herself in this mess. Korra struggles under the weight of the paint cans, moving them around but not actually freeing herself. Seeing a good opportunity in front of her, Asami holds up the camera prototype she was working on.  

"Stay still for a second dearest," and with click and a flash, the photo was taken. 

“ _Baaaaaaaaaaaabe._ ”

________

"Asami this is nice and all but-"

"You don’t like it?"

"No! I like it, I like it! It’s just…"

"Just…?"

"You don’t have to start an  _entire clothing line_  based on me.” _  
_

"It’s a way to make money."

"Getting people to dress like me?"

"I need to make money out of you since you’re spending all my money, darling."

"Hey you know that’s a foul. We talked about this!"

"I’m  _kidding,_ babe. You know I don’t mind you spending all my money.”

“ _Hmph._ ”

"Better than me building you another park."

"You know, I miss the times when you’d get flustered over me pointing that out."

"It’s not my fault I’m so  _snazzy._ ”

“ _Asamiiiiiiii._ ”

________

Korra knows Asami better than Asami knows Asami. 

She knows how Asami sometimes snores after a tough day at work. How Asami doesn’t quite wake up looking like her usual level of “walking goddess” (but it’s a sight that always puts a smile on Korra’s face). How Asami always puts exactly one and a half teaspoons of sugar into her coffee. How Asami always strikes a pose, whether she knows it or not, because Asami always wants to look her best (and Korra thinks she always looks her absolute best).

And Korra knows how absorbed Asami can get with work.

Which is why Korra makes sure she takes care of Asami because sometimes Asami most certainly won’t do it herself. Whether it’s a sandwich, or a simple take-out lunch, or a small note, Korra always makes time to let Asami know that work isn’t all there is to her life.

This afternoon Korra decided to try her hand at origami. She had read from one of Asami’s books that origami is an art form that has fire nation origins (and it took a Korra a while to finish reading the book, but Asami was very proud of her fiance when she did finally sit down and actually  _read_ ). From the book, Korra learned of a small legend involving the paper crane. According to the legend, folding 1000 of the paper cranes would grant any one wish. And Korra wants Asami to have a wish, so she gets to work.

In the end, Korra also learns that origami is actually pretty hard, and decides to leave it at one paper crane. She does write a creative note that somehow justifies it.

_Satobot,_

_Your book said that 1000 paper cranes will grant any wish, so I went and made you 1000 paper cranes today. It may appear that I only folded you one, but remember that your fiance is the avatar! And since I’ve lived, like, 1000 lives or more, by making one I technically made more than 1000. Enjoy your wish! :)_

_The origami master_

When Korra presents these gifts to her fiance, said fiance can’t help but laugh and smile, the stresses of the day instantly evaporated. While she muses how wrong “The origami master’s” logic is regarding the act of folding 1000 paper cranes, she decides to play a little game of her own. She moves to pull the avatar close and whispers in her ear, in that same tone usually reserved for the bedroom, and very inappropriately grabs her fiance’s ass and gives it a good squeeze.

“ _Would you look at that? I wished for a fine piece of ass to warm my bed tonight and it looks like I got it._ ”

“ _ASAMIIIIIIIIIIIIIII_.” 

 __________

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [A/N] Woop woop I’m back hahaha my cold went away and I have regained the ability to words (again). Asami is totally a closet perv and I like playing with that idea. 
> 
> I’ll take this moment to announce that the end is nigh for this fic. I think it will end at around chapter 14 or 15, maybe even later depending on how it goes. 
> 
> Don’t worry though! I still have that other multi-chap fic I’m working on, as well as a bunch of overdue one shots. Here’s to a more regular update schedule!
> 
> Also feel free to drop by my tumblr blog-place-thing and leave me likes or messages or whatever you want. It's where I'll put updates on my life if anyone is wondering why I'm not putting up chapters hahaha (also the odd bit of personal writing every now and then)


	13. 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 13\. You didn’t think it possible, but the avatar is fully capable of getting a terrible case of cold feet. 
> 
> (Fair warning, this one is serious and sad and stuff, okay?)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Full Summary:
> 
> Sometimes, Asami would worry that she had somehow “broken” Korra.
> 
> Asami was under the impression that Korra was a confident, brave woman who went and got what she wanted whenever she wanted it. Korra fumbling with her words and getting very flustered was very unexpected.
> 
> Of course, the “not-very-Korra” behavior very much exists within the realm of “natural Korra behavior” and Asami is simply the only one to experience it thus far.
> 
> But being the engineer that she is, she takes notes on just how to “handle” the avatar the way that only she can. It's a labor of love, really.  
> ___________  
> (This is for my girlfriend, who inspired this whole thing to begin with)

**13\. You didn’t think it possible, but the avatar is fully capable of getting a terrible case of cold feet.**

(Fair warning, this one is serious and sad and stuff, okay?)

________

In hindsight, Asami should have seen it coming. 

She should have noticed the signs. Anticipated the turn of events. She’s a smart girl, after all. She knows how to solve problems. She knows how to prevent them, even. 

At first Asami had her doubts, maybe she assessed the situation wrong. Time told her that she was wrong. That she should have acted sooner. That maybe she could have said or done something to make everything okay. 

It starts out simply at first.

She sees it growing in the corners of Korra’s odd questions. Is she good enough? Will she be a suitable wife? Does she deserve to get married? Yes, Asami would always respond, kind and loving, but it never quelled the negative feelings gathering at the pit of the avatar’s stomach.

It spreads.

Soon enough Asami always sees the hesitation in Korra’s every move. Suddenly, Korra can’t decide if she wants blue table napkins or white ones at the wedding. Suddenly, she wants to postpone the wedding, as far back as possible. And Asami obliges, she always does, because she wants Korra to want it as much as her.

It’s only over a dinner conversation that the truth hits Asami hard. The wedding is mentioned, only in passing, but suddenly the air is thick and heavy. Asami reaches up at her throat, almost instinctively, reaching for where her necklace is. She touches the smooth stone, carved by her fiance herself, seeking comfort and solace in the waves washing over her heart. Korra sees this gesture and looks away, which somehow hurts Asami even more.

And it’s there, in the sea of Korra’s blue eyes, only for there for the briefest of moments but long enough to break Asami’s heart. 

 _Fear_.

________

It’s the middle of the night and Asami is only half awake when she sees Korra standing in front of the engineer’s bedside table. Through sleepy eyes Asami watches as Korra gingerly picks up the betrothal necklace she herself had carved. She watches as Korra stuffs it in her pocket (it hasn’t quite registered in Asami’s mind that Korra is fully dressed). Watches as she takes her engagement ring off. Watches as she holds it in her fingers, lost in thought. Watches as she places the ring on the table. 

Watches as she leaves. 

And come morning, Asami waits for Korra to return. For her to come running back, with a smile and a laugh and some odd story to tell. This will prompt Asami to respond, to scold her maybe, or embrace her and reassure her. Asami pours out a cup of tea for Korra, and waits patiently for her fiance to come home. 

But she doesn’t.

Asami dumps the tea in the sink, and watches it as it goes down the drain. Watches in the same way she watched Korra leave, half asleep and completely helpless. Completely wishing that it’s all part of some cruel dream, and that she’d wake with the love of her life still beside her. She stands there, motionless, willing the nightmare to stop, willing herself to wake up.

But she doesn’t.

Instead she stands there, staring at the drain, her heart pounding so loudly and so painfully she feels it thumping at her throat. She tries to make sense of the situation, to understand. But what is there to understand? Korra isn’t there. Korra has gone somewhere else again and Asami is helpless to stop it. Asami reaches up at her throat, almost instinctively, reaching for where her necklace should be. For where what represents her comfort and safety rests so close to her heart. But it isn’t there and instead Asami touches nothing and she tries her absolute hardest to bite back tears. 

The feeling is there, burning and screaming in Asami’s eyes. She tries her absolute hardest to mask it, to bury it. But it’s there and it breaks Asami’s heart. 

 _Fear_. 

___________

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So uh, I’ll update this one after another chapter of The Key to Courtship. 
> 
> I very nearly decided to cut this part out and completely replace it with something else but no. I’m going somewhere with this. Trust me. (IDK how I managed to write this. Too sad for my taste. But serious writing happens sometimes and I guess that’s okay?)


	14. 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 14\. You’ll realize where your love is taking you, and at first you won’t know what to do. But you’ll see that whether this is you changing fate or you being guided by it, it’s something you will gladly accept.
> 
> (Another sad chapter ahead!)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Full Summary:
> 
> Sometimes, Asami would worry that she had somehow “broken” Korra.
> 
> Asami was under the impression that Korra was a confident, brave woman who went and got what she wanted whenever she wanted it. Korra fumbling with her words and getting very flustered was very unexpected.
> 
> Of course, the “not-very-Korra” behavior very much exists within the realm of “natural Korra behavior” and Asami is simply the only one to experience it thus far.
> 
> But being the engineer that she is, she takes notes on just how to “handle” the avatar the way that only she can. It's a labor of love, really.  
> ___________  
> (This is for my girlfriend, who inspired this whole thing to begin with)

14\. You’ll realize where your love is taking you, and at first you won’t know what to do. But you’ll see that whether this is you changing fate or you being guided by it, it’s something you will gladly accept.

(Another sad chapter ahead!)

________

Asami lies in bed, lost in a sea of messy sheets, eyes stinging and tears dry on her cheeks. 

Korra has not returned. 

It has been that way for about two days now. Perhaps this is the third? The fourth? Asami doesn’t care. Korra isn’t there. Worried friends and family are out there scouring the city for her lost fiance yet Asami struggles to muster the energy to get out of bed. There she is: Asami “I-have-it-together” Sato, so utterly broken, wondering where she went wrong. Did Korra ever feel the same? Why did she leave? Will she ever come back? Could Asami have done anything, anything at all, to change this outcome?

The truth remains. It strikes her all at once again, like a Satomobile slamming into her at full speed. Korra isn’t there. She went and left, going to spirits know where, to do whatever it is that runaway avatars do. Part of Asami is scathing, angry, fuming that there isn’t so much an explanation. But another part of Asami is begging, desperately begging, that some divine force brings her love back to her. But the truth remains. The truth remains and it aches so bad that Asami feels her heartache from the tips of her toes all the way to every hair on her head. 

Korra is  _gone_. 

Suddenly she’s lost within herself, a sole flame going up against a relentless blizzard. She feels the cold swallow her, almost completely, her arms and legs and face and ears burning from the cold. 

And suddenly she has nothing again. She’s alone. Her life swept away in another stroke of horrible fate. In the painful silence of  _home_ ( - does she still have the right to call it so?) - she bites back bitter, bitter tears but she realizes that tears are all she has and they come running down her face.

She curls into a ball on the bed that was once so warm and enticing yet so cramped and so small, but now so empty and so infinitely wide. She wraps her arms around Korra’s pillow, burying her face into the scent that was just there, just within reach, but now far away from where her arms could ever stretch out to touch. Part of her wishes that Korra would come  _home_  that very moment. Silently padding into the bedroom, sliding into the loose scramble of sheets on their bed, wrapping strong, loving arms around Asami. 

But no one is there and she sobs into the pillow, into the deafening silence of the place that once made her feel so  _safe_. 

________

When Asami was younger, she had a pet messenger hawk. A gift from one of her father’s business contacts, one who obviously doesn’t know what to give young girls of the post-war era. At first Hiroshi expected Asami to reject the gift, to want to return it, but instead she eyes it with a fascination he’s never seen in his daughter before. So he has a beautiful, comfortable cage built for it. 

They kept it in its great big cage in the mansion’s backyard. Asami would fawn over it as often as she could, and her father would often suggest that she send messages to her friends with it. She’d definitely start a trend, he’d always say, and Asami’s mother would laugh. Asami would always respond politely, a carefully delivered  _maybe later_  or a  _perhaps after supper_ , but Asami knows the truth. There are simply no friends to send letters to.

She spends far too much time studying and reading compared to all the other kids. Too much time learning and too little making friends. But she’s okay with that. Even as young as she is, she feels herself drawn to the marvels of science and discovery, and she’s never regretted that. (It’s a lie, she does regret it, but never out loud.)

But one day her mother was struck down by a firebender, and she never got up.

Asami remembered the blazing red in the fire - the rage, the anger, so furious and so relentless. Suddenly, she sees it in the marvelous feathers of the messenger hawk she once loved so much. Suddenly she can’t stand the sight of it. So she opens the cage, makes the bird flee, makes sure it never returns. 

She watches the hawk fly away, the painful weight in her heart shifting. She decides that it’s maybe catharsis. 

(She feels that it’s catharsis again, when, trying on red lipstick for the first time, she decides that she likes the color red once again. That maybe she’s forgiven it and finally moved on.)

________

"How can I be broken like this?" 

Asami asks her reflection, leaning on the sink and looking herself dead in the eye. When her reflection doesn’t respond she looks at her face, at the traces of tears and the hollow look her face has. She looks like she hasn’t been sleeping for days, and it’s true. Had Korra been around, she’d have forced her into bed, made sure she got a good eight hours of sleep and then a few hours more of “fun” before Asami would be allowed to return to her work. To what Korra called “The Satobot’s Natural Habitat”. 

But Korra doesn’t appear in the bathroom doorway. She doesn’t pull Asami by the hand, doesn’t guide her into their warm, somehow cramped bed. She doesn’t tell her about all of her past lives until Asami falls asleep, doesn’t stroke Asami’s hair just the way she likes it. 

The realization is heavy, and it stings, ever so painfully, and Asami is taken over by another bout of sobbing. The tremors shake her body, running through her like an earthquake of fears. The sobs subside, and she looks at herself in the mirror once again. 

She sees it now, the sadness. The sadness plastered all over her face, over her being. She must look like some sad, injured bird. Some broken thing to fix. But she is the one to fix broken things. So who fixes her when she breaks? 

"Fix yourself."

But her reflection doesn’t change. The sadness doesn’t crawl away, doesn’t recede into the darkest pits of her heart. She raises her hand, in anger, to smash the mirror, to show it its place, but she stops midway.

She doesn’t break things. She fixes them.  

________

Asami’s family was never particularly religious, but her mother held certain beliefs close to her heart. 

"All people were made for something," she’d say, and Asami would ask what she was made to do, in the manner that all children think that adults have all the answers. Her mother would smile, a beautiful, serene smile, and simply tell her that it is up to each person to find out. 

It was during the times when Asami felt most inadequate that her mother would wrap her arms around her, and those soft words would find themselves drifting into her heart. Asami still did not quite understand what her mother meant, but knew that it held some kind of significance, so she memorized them.

But one day her mother was struck down by a firebender, and she never got up.

Her father had taken it badly. Asami could see it. He was spiraling, down and down, like despair draining away at the bottom of a sink. Asami could recall the pangs in her heart, as if she were pulled, compelled, to do something,  _anything._  To act while there was anything left of her father to save. 

Of course, she didn’t know what to do. She was a grieving child herself, after all. “All people were made for something,” she’d frequently tell herself, as if it were some kind of prayer. She did not yet know the true meaning of these words, as simple as they were, but she repeated them, again and again, because her mother was gone and she would not allow her words to go as well. 

One night Asami’s father smashed his bedroom mirror in a fit of drunken rage. He sobbed, broken and helpless, while Asami silently walked in, wanting to help, wanting her father’s tears to go away, wanting to  _fix_  things _._ She looked at the mirror, at the broken reflection of her father sprawled on the bathroom floor and her crouched over his sobbing body. She saw them, so shattered and so sad, and she’s filled by the overwhelming need to repair these faults. 

The next day she gathered all the shards of the broken mirror. Some are jagged and sharp, and they cut her soft fingers. She winced, but shouldered on, immersed in the sacred task her mother had left her. She found a suitable footstool to allow her to reach every corner of the mirror, and using whatever adhesive she could find, flimsily rebuilds the mirror. 

It’s late in the afternoon when her father is finally sober enough and he realizes that he hasn’t seen her all day, and after a frantic bout of searching, finds her in the bathroom, piecing together a mirror beyond repair, her fingers scratched and bleeding, but in her eyes burn fierce passion and determination. 

Her father felt as if he were suddenly drenched in ice cold water, and clarity washes over him, tears streaming down his cheeks. He pulls Asami into a tight embrace, and Asami is shocked - she drops the shards in her hands and lets them shatter into even smaller shards in the porcelain sink. But Asami doesn’t seem to mind, she’s pulled out of her trance and she embraces her father, happy that he’s  _awake_  again. That he isn’t so broken anymore. 

The next day she insisted that they visit her mother’s grave. She looked up at the sky as they drove there, hoping that maybe her hawk was following her, watching her. When they arrived at the graveyard, she held up her small, bandaged hands to the tombstone, where her mother was laid to rest. She wiggled her fingers. 

"You said that all people were made for something. I fix things mom. I figured it out. I fix things." 

________

It’s as she contemplates her youth and whether or not estranged messenger hawks return to their owners looking for catharsis of their own when she decides to visit her parents. 

It’s what most sad, lost children do anyway, right?

________

The drive to the graveyard was a blur. She finds her eyes trailing upward, to the sky, to where a hawk may be somehow watching over her, waiting to show her some form of catharsis she badly needs. Nothing but pasty gray clouds litter the sky, blotting out the sun and all the joy she could ever derive from it. 

She walks up to the tombstones, her parents buried next to one another. in her arms she cradles a vase of flowers, to replace the ones she left a month prior. Korra’s ring burns in Asami’s pocket. She couldn’t quite find it within herself to leave it. A breeze passes through, gently rustling the leaves of the nearby tree. Asami kneels down, still drunk from her sadness, and sets down her vase.

Only to find that there is already a vase of fresh flowers sitting there. On the vase is a note with the words “I am fine” written in a flourish that Asami knows by heart.

"Mom, Dad, I guess you’ve already met my fiance," Asami somehow musters, hot tears running down her cheeks with renewed vigor. 

She spends the next half hour talking to her parents, or at least, what remains of them. She cries out all her tears and wrings out her soul, and she’s mid-sentence when she finally sees the thing in the trees, a shadow rustling and watching, almost like a fragment of her past come to haunt her. 

_A hawk?_

It squawks - screeches, more like, and spreads its massive wings. ( _A spirit, perhaps? Some spirit hawk come to give me the meaning to my sadness?)_ It appears to look Asami in the eye, staring her down, and it flaps it’s massive wings, before finally taking off, flying toward the spirit portal. Asami watches on, her spiel brought to a halt, watching as the giant bird shrinks away, until it is firmly out of sight. The great weight in her heart shifts. Suddenly it feels lighter, and she feels clarity resonating within her. She looks to the tombstones, to where her parents rest. For the first time in days she finds it within herself to smile. A true, genuine smile. She stands, dusts herself off, and holds her hands up to the tombstone, and wiggles her fingers for old time’s sake.

” _I almost forgot. I fix things._ ”

________

Determination has found its proper place in Asami’s eyes again. 

She stands before the spirit portal, steps through it. She’s unprepared and there may be hostile spirits waiting on the other side but Asami doesn’t care. She doesn’t have time to. (In fact, she walked past all the guards restricting access to the portal itself.)

There, right on the other side, stands Korra, shocked, mouth slightly open, clearly caught off guard. It’s as if all the divine forces in the universe arranged this for Asami, that they’re allowing her to  _fix_ things. To fix things the only way that she knows how. 

And before Korra could speak or run or form any coherent thoughts, Asami walks boldly forward, a fire in her eyes burning more deeply than ever before. She’s Asami fuckin’ Sato. Her hands have the power to mend, to bring all broken things together and make them whole again. It’s these same hands that pull Korra toward her, where she can hold her, where she will hopefully remain. 

Asami kisses Korra fervently, passionately, as if to convey her longing again and again. 

Stay. Stay.  _Stay._

And Asami fears that maybe Korra doesn’t want to stay, that she won’t kiss back, that she’ll pull away, that she’ll run - far, far away - where Asami could never hope to reach her. 

But Korra does return the fervor, twice over, even. When they do pull apart, both breathless and dizzy, Asami sees it in Korra’s eyes.

Love.

It burns as passionately as fire. It’s as steady as the earth. As sure as the sea. As gentle as the wind. And Asami swears she has never seen anything so real and so perfect and so beautiful and if there was ever a time for her soul to be moved by anything, it’s now. 

Korra has never been very good with words, but what she shows Asami is worth all the words in the world to her. 

There’s ringing in Asami’s ears. She doesn’t hear Korra stutter through an explanation. All she knows is that Korra is there again, that things will be okay. Korra mumbles through a statement, herself explaining that she never got to truly propose to Asami. Asami is lightheaded. She watches as Korra gets down on one knee, offers the betrothal necklace, offers a vow, a lifetime. Asami gets down on one knee as well, pulls out the ring that is rightfully Korra’s, and Asami offers all the lifetimes she will ever get.

They kiss again, and Korra feels how tightly Asami embraces her, how almost desperately she holds onto her. In her mind she decides that she’ll never leave, never again, no matter what. A million thoughts race through Asami’s mind, most of them of Korra, of them going  _home_. 

"I think I want white table napkins at our wedding," Korra says, pulling Asami even closer to her.

"We’re getting a messenger hawk," is Asami’s reply, which Korra wisely does not question.

(It’s only later that Asami remembers to scold Korra, and declare that she is to never pull that kind of stunt ever again. She even has Korra sign a contract. Korra signs it as Korra Sato. Asami takes it as a sign that things will truly be okay, and smiles. It’s how Korra manages to avoid “couch punishment”.)

_________

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It is done! I hope it’s okay. I’m actually kind of sick so I may edit this when I’m less sick. 
> 
> Also, last chapter of this story is next!!! It might be a short one though. :/ Do not despair, however, because A. I have this other story going on, modern AU, and B. I’ll do Avatar’s Guide next!


	15. 15 (END)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 15\. And this is your vow: To love her and support her, with unquestionable faith and unwavering spirit. And to forever remain by her side till the end of your days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Full Summary:
> 
> Sometimes, Asami would worry that she had somehow “broken” Korra.
> 
> Asami was under the impression that Korra was a confident, brave woman who went and got what she wanted whenever she wanted it. Korra fumbling with her words and getting very flustered was very unexpected.
> 
> Of course, the “not-very-Korra” behavior very much exists within the realm of “natural Korra behavior” and Asami is simply the only one to experience it thus far.
> 
> But being the engineer that she is, she takes notes on just how to “handle” the avatar the way that only she can. It's a labor of love, really.  
> ___________  
> (This is for my girlfriend, who inspired this whole thing to begin with)

**15\. And this is your vow: To love her and support her, with unquestionable faith and unwavering spirit. And to forever remain by her side till the end of your days.**

____________

There was once a time when Asami was so sure that she was set upon the earth to suffer. She has several instances of her life that she cites as objective evidence of this. In those dark hours she liked to think about how her life could be different. How an alternate version of her existence of her life would pan out. How things would have gone down had different choices been made. She’d gone through it all in her head at least a hundred times, as per her standard protocol. 

____________

In one of her alternate lives, she’d be an equalist like her father. Only, she’d be really good at being an equalist. There she would be, pretending to be team avatar’s resident rich girl. Grow deep roots. Get in close. Then the hammer would fall and she would personally snuff them all out. They’d cry, scream, shake their fists, but at that point her heart would have been long dead, and she’d watch the life go out of their once trusting eyes. 

Without the avatar as a true unifying force, the equalists would have their influence grow substantially without meaningful opposition. Then, sometime in the middle of their campaign Amon’s true identity will be discovered. Many new leaders will appear to take control, her father included, but none would have the charisma that Amon had. The equalists will break into smaller factions, and ultimately weaken itself. At this point any remaining benders will have rallied an overwhelming counter-attack and the equalists will then be truly destroyed. All known supporters will have been either imprisoned for life or put to death. Asami would have been imprisoned for life. 

____________

In another of her alternate lives, she quits team avatar. This diverging path happens after her father is imprisoned. Because honestly, who even expected her to stick around like she did? True, she would always be willing to help, but in this alternate life she stays firmly in the sidelines, focusing on the growth of her inherited company. She would be there, occasionally lending the odd airship or two, and all would be well. She’d read about these people in the paper, marvel at their exciting lives, and feel a sharp sadness pull at her heart. Regret, maybe? Either way it would be irrelevant. This iteration of Asami is purely focused on her company. That’s all that matters. It’s lonely, truly, terribly lonely, but Future Industries would become the best version of itself it could ever be. 

At some point Korra is captured by an unknown faction and is never found again. Searches persist, conflicts break out. Ultimately, no one knows the fate of the avatar. Eventually people give up and begin the search for the new avatar. They only find the new avatar fifty years later, when Asami herself is in her golden years, too burdened by regret to want to meet the new avatar. Rumor would have it that the Earth Queen captured her and kept her as a “pet”, in the most sadistic and cruel turn of events. This iteration of Asami would find it immensely difficult to sleep at night. Perhaps, had she been there, she could have saved her…

____________

And at this point the Asami of the present would tire of these negative possibilities. After all, those times were in the past. This is her, now. Asami, who sided with team avatar and stayed with them. Asami, who devoted her life to what she believes is right. Asami, who fought, struggled, and suffered, all to make the best version of her present she could muster. And at this point she’d give in to wishful thinking, and go through her ideal future more times that she could count. (It’s almost a guilty pleasure, really. She’d catch herself staring into the distance when she should most definitely be focusing on work.)

____________

In her ideal future, Asami would be wed to Korra. Somehow they’d have about two children. (Don’t get her wrong, she has quite the number of “baby acquiring methods” already lined up, she just hasn’t quite settled on which is the best.) They’d all live in the Sato mansion. Asami would have statues of her children integrated into the spacious New New Avatar Korra park in their own backyard. The park would be a gift to Korra for her 30th birthday. The children would frequently ask why they have statues of themselves in all the parks all over town, and Korra would tell them that it’s because their mommy (Asami) is a dork and she expresses love funny. Korra would then be made to sleep on the couch, but before falling asleep Asami would soften and allow Korra back in.

Her family would be happy. True, the times would sometimes get tough, and right when she feels that everything is about to fall apart, her family would swoop in and save her. They would be the unstoppable Satobots. This part of Asami’s ideal future always makes her heart swell. It’s all she ever wanted, a loving family that hardship cannot overcome. In a sense, she’s earned it, her and Korra both. As a family they’d do everything together. Once a month they’d go have a picnic at a park of Asami’s choosing. They’d eat near the statues of Asami’s family. Said family would find it really weird and somewhat uncomfortable, but they’d always relent because they want mommy to be happy. They would frequently ask their mommy (Korra) why their mommy (Asami) is so hung up on parks. Mommy (Korra) would have no idea. (Asami has no idea how her hypothetical children would refer to her and Korra. She has devoted a lot of time to this, yet she has not come up with anything other than Satomom, which Korra laughed at for a solid five minutes.) 

In this version of the future Korra also learns how to drive a Satomobile. It takes countless tries, including Asami’s invention of an automatic clutch system tailored just for Korra. In the end Korra finally gets it, but she would rather earthbend the Satomobile into the parking slot than even attempt to parallel park it. Asami tacks this onto her ideal future because she personally finds it imperative that Korra drives. 

_____________

But enough about that. Asami really shouldn’t be daydreaming. It is, after all, her wedding. It’s happening. Finally, truly happening. She could almost see her ideal future building itself right before her eyes. She sees it in the deep, reassuring blue of her wife-to-be’s eyes.

The event is small, personal, but nonetheless beautiful. They’re holding it all the way in the southern water tribe, because Korra insisted that they practice some of her customs. Friends and family (political allies included) watch on as the two are finally joined for life. The colors red and blue dance and mingle all around, and really Varrick has outdone himself in decorating the whole place. 

The wedding officiant, Bolin, who practically begged to do it, says his lines, in the usual way he does anything in public. 

“Now, if I am not mistaken,” Bolin says, in his “official and serious” voice, “there’s something you would like to say Asami?”

And Asami nods. Korra’s eyes grow wide with surprise, and Asami smiles at her. She pulls out a small list, and takes a deep breath. So she begins, the story of her relationship with the love of her life, ending with her promise.

“1. Tell the avatar that you’re more than willing to be her girlfriend before the she passes out…….”

(She says all 15, and that pushes most of the guests to tears, Korra included.)

“15. And this is your vow: To love her and support her, with unquestionable faith and unwavering spirit. And to forever remain by her side till the end of your days.”

And as she says it the reality of it all finally sinks in. The future she once dreamed of is finally right there, with her, right now. She decides that she regrets nothing about how her life played out, because difficult or not, hers is the life that led her here, and she’s truly, absolutely happy.

_____________

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [A/N] And with that, it’s done. I would like to thank you all for reading this and leaving all your love and input and everything. It means a lot to me! :) Sorry I’m terribly slow at pumping out updates, but I’m working on it. 
> 
> Yes, keep your eyes peeled for the “sequel”, The Avatar’s Guide to Dating the Engineer. I hope you guys like that one too when it finally arrives!
> 
> Again, thank you all. I hope you liked it. I sure loved writing it!


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